Gop, Medicare | featured news

House and Senate Republican leaders told President Barack Obama Thursday that they will refuse to nominate candidates to serve on an advisory board that is to play a role in holding down Medicare costs under the new health care act.

Here is what Romney, so far in this campaign, has said. No changes to any entitlement programs for any seniors for the next 10 years. No specifics on how quickly his Medicare vouchers will grow for future seniors. No specifics on which tax breaks he’ll eliminate in order to offset the multi-trillion dollar cost of his tax cuts. No specific plan naming the cuts he’ll make to reach his $7 trillion target. No specifics on how he’ll equalize tax treatment of employer and individual health care. It is a campaign based on the principle of “not us, not now.”

The Republican Party's platform calls for a ban on all abortions, reshaping Medicare and deep cuts to Medicaid if Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are elected in November. The New York Times: Platform's Sharp Turn To Right Has Conservatives Cheering
The new platform — with its call to reshape Medicare to give fixed amounts of money to future beneficiaries so they can buy their own coverage, its tough stance on illegal immigration and its many calls to shrink the size and scope of government — shows just how far rightward the party has shifted in both tone and substance in the decades since it adopted the 1980 platform, which was considered a triumph for conservatives at the time (Cooper, 8/28).

Mitt Romney’s promise to restore $716 billion that he says President Obama “robbed” from Medicare has some health care experts puzzled, and not just because his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, included the same savings in his House budgets.

Before the presidential campaign hurtles off to the next skirmish, take a moment to notice what happened this week: Mitt Romney vowed to increase the national debt by $716 billion, and no one so much as blinked.

As a congressman in a comfortably safe Wisconsin district, Rep. Paul Ryan voted for some expensive initiatives while building a reputation as a serious conservative. But now that he is Mitt Romney's running mate, some of his ideological inconsistencies are now coming under the microscope.

House Democrats are making clear that GOP vice presidential contender Paul Ryan is one of their opponents in the election. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching automated calls in 50 districts today aimed at tying Republican candidates to Ryan's plan to revamp Medicare, the government-run health insurance program for seniors.

G.O.P. leaders insisted that they remained committed to overhauling Medicare, but chose not to proceed with legislation, effectively putting the issue off until after the next election.