Republicans target aged voters by raising concerns about Medicare

Once again, medicare plays a central role in this fall's campaigns.

Throughout the election season, Democrats have been criticizing Republicans for their votes and lawsuits, which would eliminate insurance protections for pre-existing consumer conditions.

But now, Republicans are striving to change the discourse on health care by using a proven technique used by both parties over the years: to inform seniors that their Medicare coverage could be at risk.

However, it is not yet clear whether these reliable voters are responding to the warning.

Republicans claim Democratic support for expanding health insurance would threaten the viability of the program for older people who depend on it.

"The Democrats' plan means that after a lifetime of hard work and sacrifices, seniors would no longer be able to count on the benefits promised to them," President Trump wrote in a guest column. United States today October 10th. "According to the plan of the Democrats, the health insurance of today would be forced to die." The column was filled with false and unsubstantiated statements, as reported by Scott Horsley, of NPR.

In a speech to the National Press Club on October 8, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Said much the same thing. "Democrats call it" Medicare for all "because it sounds good, but in reality, it ends Medicare in its current form," Ryan said.

It's a sentiment expressed by Republicans voting up and down. In New Jersey, where Republican Jay Webber is running for an open seat at the American House, he has enlisted his elderly father in one of his commercials. After the candidate found that his opponent was "interested" in Medicare, Webber's father, Jim Webber, said, "That would end Medicare as we know it."

The fact-finders have repeatedly challenged these claims. Health insurance analyst Linda Blumberg of the Urban Institute told PolitiFact that suggesting Medicare-for-all would disrupt coverage of current enrollees is a "bad description of the proposal". Glenn Kessler of The Washington PostThe column "Fact Checker" of indicated that a major proposal "would theoretically expand the benefits for the elderly".

And the Democrats are far from united on the theme of expanding Medicare, but that does not prevent Republicans from suggesting that they are. In New Jersey, Webber's Democratic opponent, Mikie Sherrill, is actually not one of the many Democrats who specifically endorsed the idea of ​​Medicare. for everyone.

According to Robert Blendon, a public health professor and survey expert at Harvard, "people over 60 have a very high participation rate," explained Republicans who advocate for health insurance this year. Fall, especially in non-presidential elections like 2018 (Blendon is collaborating with polls done in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.)

Problems with health insurance and social security can further motivate older voters, says Blendon, "because they depend so much [those programs] For the rest of their lives. Retirees are very afraid to survive their benefits. "

Medicare is often a rallying cry for politicians of both parties in elections.

In 1996, Democrats in general and President Bill Clinton in particular campaigned on early attempts by the GOP to limit Medicare spending. Republicans have coined the term "Mediscare" to describe Democrat attacks.

But in mid-term competitions in 2010, Republicans attacked. Right after the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans put forward multi-billion dollar Medicare cuts imposed on health care providers in order to pay the rest of the law, provoking protests against the country's democrats.

Later, after the Republicans regained control of the House in this election, Ryan, then chairman of the House Budget Committee, decided to call for the repeal of everything in the House of Commons. ACA, with the exception of the Medicare cuts that the GOP had campaigned so hard for in 2010.

This year, the Democrats fought back, noting that Trump and the GOP Congress had proposed new Medicare cuts and that, under Republican leadership, the date of the Medicare Trust Fund's insolvency was close.

"They first passed a tax bill that offered a huge profit for corporations and the wealthy, despite warnings from non-partisan scorers that it would blow up the deficit," said the senator. Oregon Ron Wyden, the largest Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. "Then, even before the ink dries, the knives are out for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security."

Trump's economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, suggested that the administration would advocate greater cuts in fees in 2019.

For his part, the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., In an interview with Bloomberg News, attributed the higher deficit to Medicare and other benefit programs, rather than to the 2017 GOP tax cuts.

"We can not maintain the health insurance we have at the rate at which we are going, and that is the pinnacle of irresponsibility," he said.

Despite the coordinated talking points, it's unclear whether the GOP attacks on Democrats about Medicare will work. This is not only because the Democrats have ammunition to hand over, but also because the elderly do not seem particularly threatened by the idea that extending the insurance to other people could jeopardize their own protection.

In a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in September 2017, seniors are no more likely than younger people to say that the costs, quality and availability of health care would worsen if the United States were to place a national health plan. Less than a third of respondents, as well as people aged 65 and over, believed that national health insurance would worsen their own coverage. (Kaiser Health News is an independent editorial program of the foundation.)

In addition, pollster Geoff Garin, chairman of Hart Research, said during a conference call with reporters on Oct. 15 that attacks against Medicare for All were not yet manifesting in polls. But he said that he was skeptical about the impact they might have.

"The basic idea of ​​extending health care in America is generally very popular," he said.

Nevertheless, Harvard's Blendon claims to understand why Republicans are trying: "Older people are essential for Republicans to maintain their majority."

Kaiser Health News is a non-profit news service covering health issues. This is an independent editorial program of the Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.