Most Americans will admit that our healthcare system needs fixing. But over 70% of Americans have some sort of health insurance (private or Medicare or Medicaid). And most are happy with what they have and are more than a little nervous with anything that might affect their coverage. And seniors are a case in point.
My mother, who just turned 85, is proud of the fact that she has voted in every election since she was old enough to vote. I confess I don’t even know who was running for president back then. As a senior citizen she is part of a very powerful voting block from which Republicans and Democrats alike are seeking support on the healthcare reform issue.
Mom surprised me the other day when out of the blue she declared that if the Democrats get their hands on healthcare we are facing a “government take over of medicine.” And that is “not a good thing for us old folks.” Treading lightly, I pointed out to her that Medicare is a government program and they have already taken over her healthcare.
“Baloney,” she replied. “Medicare is insurance. It has nothing to do with the government.” And therein lies the Democrat’s problem. Seniors are big users of health care. And they vote in much larger numbers than other segments of the population. A recent ABC/Washington Post poll showed that only 45% of all respondents supported the Democrats healthcare reform proposals. But only 34% of seniors responding were in favor.
And when you consider that the Democrats are planning to cut a half trillion dollars in Medicare expenses over the next ten years to help pay for universal coverage, seniors have a right to be concerned. Democrats are quick to point out that the cuts will come from the elimination of fraud and waste. Oh please….
The Republicans are gleefully throwing logs on the fire. Healthcare reform is rapidly becoming a third rail for seniors. AARP admitted that they lost over 60,000 members in protest of their support of healthcare reform even though they have yet to endorse any specific legislation.
If Democrats expect to carry the day, they are going to have to do a much better job of communicating the positive changes to Medicare included in the legislation they are proposing. Changes like simplifying and improving the confusing prescription drug coverage, offering free preventive health services and extending the subsidies currently available to low-income senior citizens.
But the Democrats do not help their own cause when they use imaginative accounting to get where they are going. As they explain it, the cuts in expenses will help prolong the life of Medicare. At the same time they are planning to use the savings to cover 31 million new bodies, many of whom will need subsidies to afford the mandatory insurance that the legislation calls for.
The Congressional Budget Office recently expressed some reservations about the claims drifting on the hot air in Washington. In a monumental understatement they pointed out, “To describe the full amount of hospital insurance trust fund savings as both improving the government’s ability to pay future Medicare benefits and financing new spending outside of Medicare would essentially double-count a large share of those savings, and thus overstate the improvement in the government’s fiscal position,”
As Mark Twain was fond of saying, ” There are lies damned lies and statistics.” It is hard to imagine seniors embracing the new Medicare cuts. After all, they have the most to lose and the least to gain from any changes in the healthcare delivery system in this country.
