Which Party Would Be Better at Protecting Medicare

Remember in 2010, those tea party Republicans prancing around with signs decrying the evils of government and the evils of “socialized medicine” and demanding that the government keep its hands off their Medicare? Someone must have tapped them on the shoulder and explained to them that their beloved Medicare is, in fact, pure government run socialized medicine because now they are all for doing away with Medicare and replacing it with another program they just happen to call Medicare.

The Republicans are using word tricks to fool people; they want to completely do away with Medicare (and by “Medicare” I mean the real government provided single payer healthcare) and replace it with a completely different program (seniors go to private insurers with a voucher and purchase their own healthcare) which they also call “Medicare”. So the Republicans can claim they are not doing away with “Medicare” because there will still be a program called “Medicare”. It's kind of like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” where the aliens take over humans and assume their outward form but inside they are really alien. So the Republicans take over Medicare and it is still called Medicare on the outside, but inside it is something completely different and alien.

This Republican Vouchercare will phase in over a number of years and completely do away with the real Medicare. When Romney claims Obama is “raiding Medicare” isn't it ironic that that is exactly what Romney wants to do? Here is Charlie Crist, former Republican governor of Florida, “The $716 billion in savings his (Obama's) opponents decry today extended the life of the program by nearly a decade and are making sure taxpayer dollars aren't wasted in excessive payments to insurance companies or fraud and abuse. His opponents (Romney/Ryan) would end the Medicare guarantee by creating a voucher that would raise seniors' costs by thousands of dollars and bankrupt the program.”

Changes are indeed going to be required in order to keep Medicare solvent as the huge bulge of boomers retire. Since Medicare is a Democratic program, Democrats are invested in the continued success of the real Medicare. On the other hand, remember the tea party signs, the Republicans are fundamentally opposed to socialized medicine as found in Medicare. Which party do you think will do the best job of protecting and preserving “the real Medicare” for the generations to come?