RNC Chair Steele Tries to Scare Seniors with the Latest Lie About Health Care Reform

RNC Chair Steele Tries to Scare Seniors with the Latest Lie About Health Care Reform

by Mike Hall, Aug 24, 2009

After years of trying to gut Medicare and turn health care for the nation’s seniors over to the private health insurance industry—the same industry that’s done such a fine job for the rest of us—Republicans today announced they will “protect” Medicare with a brand new “Seniors Health Care Bill of Rights.”

Oh, puleeze!

Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee chairman, unleashed this latest scam in a desperate attempt to derail health care reform, writing an op-ed in today’s Washington Post that is chock-full of lies and falsehoods about President Obama’s health care reform efforts.

Steele claims health care reform will cut vital Medicare programs, prevent seniors from making their own medical and health decisions, and echoes the rest of the anti-reform litany. (Steele also tried to falsely portray himself as part of the Steelworkers union by setting up a misleading Facebook page. Buy land from this guy in Florida? Think not.)

Edward Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, says this latest Republican attack on health care reform is:

galling not only for its gross distortions of public policy issues, but also for its hypocrisy on the heels of high-profile GOP efforts to scare and confuse American seniors about the health care debate.

Coyle also says there is one very important right missing in this so-called Bill of Rights—the “right to be told the truth.”

The truth is retirees have a lot to gain from leading Democratic proposals that would make it easier for them to see a doctor, get a prescription filled, and afford long-term care.

Click here to read Coyle’s full statement.

Last week at a Florida health care forum, Alliance President Barbara Easterling outlined how health care reform will strengthen Medicare. It will:

• Close the “donut hole” in Medicare Part D, the one that guarantees insurance companies keep getting their monthly premiums even when they aren’t giving you any benefits.

• Allow Medicare to negotiate for volume discounts with the drug companies. Savvy seniors know you should pay less when you buy in bulk.

• End wasteful taxpayer subsidies to the private insurance companies who run Medicare Advantage plans.

• Keep you healthier by eliminating the co-pay for Medicare preventive services such as checkups and cancer screenings.

• Offer an opportunity for early retirees to buy into Medicare

Coyle says the Republicans’ real intent is to “scare seniors and mislead them the with lies and predictions of doom.”