At Long Last, Medicare

Good to see the Obama campaign finally get around to this:

Senator McCain has been eager to share some details of his health care plan – but not all. Like those ads for prescription drugs, you have to read the fine print to learn the full story. First, we found out that he wants to pay for his plan by taxing your health care benefits for the first time in history, just like George Bush. That was bad enough. But the Wall Street Journal recently reported that it's actually worse than we thought. It turns out, Senator McCain would pay for part of his plan by making drastic cuts in Medicare –$882 billion worth. $882 billion in Medicare cuts to pay for an ill-conceived health care plan, even as Medicare already faces a looming shortfall.

Now, this should come as no surprise – it's entirely consistent with Senator McCain's record during his 26 years in Congress where, time and again, he's opposed Medicare. In fact, Senator McCain has voted against protecting Medicare 40 times. 40 times, he's failed to stand up for Medicare. So what would Senator McCain's cuts mean for Medicare at a time when more and more Americans are relying on it? It would mean a cut of more than 20 percent in Medicare benefits next year. If you count on Medicare, it would mean fewer places to get care, and less freedom to choose your own doctors. You'll pay more for your drugs, receive fewer services, and get lower quality care. I don't think that's right.

When you've worked hard your whole life, and paid into the system, and done everything right, you shouldn't have the carpet pulled out from under you when you least expect it and can least afford it. Health care shouldn't be some kind of either-or tradeoff where our seniors get left out in the cold.

I think every single American has a right to affordable accessible health care. We can strengthen Medicare by eliminating wasteful subsidies to big HMOs in Medicare, and making sure seniors can access home-based care, and letting Medicare negotiate with drug companies for better prices. That's the kind of change we need.

That's strong rhetoric. There's a companion ad:



That sound you heard was Florida slipping away...