Posts Tagged ‘medicare’

Paul Ryan is the golden boy.  Conservatives love and defend him (see: Gingrich Lambasted Over Health Care Comments and Gingrich Attack Inexplicable etc.), liberals–to show how reasonable they can be–grudgingly describe him as intelligent out of one corner of their mouth while slanderously attacking his policy proposals out of the other (see: throwing Grandma off a cliff).

Recently, TIME named Ryan a person of the year runner-up.  In the piece, titled “The Prophet,” David Von Drehle writes, “it was Ryan who brought President Obama down from his cloud of happy talk about windmills and high-speed trains to acknowledge that America has a plateful of peas to choke down after its binge at the dessert bar.”  Finishing, “what Ryan had this year was the courage to look the future in the eye.  It is a seer’s work to glimpse around the corner and sound the alarm.”

This week, Politifact called the Democrats’ attack on Ryan’s Medicare reform plan the “Lie of the Year.”  In 2011, Politifact debunked the claim that Ryan’s plan would eliminate Medicare, end health care for our seniors, etc., “in nine separate fact-checks rated false or pants on fire.”  Of course, Politifact is quick to mention that, “with a few small tweaks to their attack lines, Democrats could have been factually correct.”  Nonetheless, left-leaning blogs and media-types were outraged: “Is Politifact’s ‘Lie of the Year’ a lie itself?” asked The Week; “Memo to Politifact: Conservatives Lie about the Stimulus All the Time,” whined Media Matters; “Politifact’s ‘Lie of the Year is True” said DailyKos; and, the oh-so-clever Mediaite wrote “Politif**ked: Why Politifact’s ‘Lie of the Year’ Is Not Just Wrong, It’s Irresponsible,”  Good grief!

So, why did TIME and Politifact, not exactly bastions of conservative thought, feel so magnanimous towards the gentleman from Wisconsin?

The left is rewarding Ryan because he’s not running for president.  Liberals everywhere breathed a collective sigh of relief in August when Ryan announced that he would not enter the race.  Ryan is likeable, he’s principled, and he’s smart without being condescending–Gingrich and Obama should take lessons.   Most importantly, Ryan can discuss the complex policy issues confronting our nation in forthright language that neither oversimplifies nor understates the gravity of the situation.    After watching the circus that is the GOP primary race, the left is so thankful to Ryan for staying in his Budget Committee Chairman box, rather than posing the most legitimate threat to Obama, that they will even go so far as to validate some of his positions.

Can someone please ask Paul Ryan one more time if he’s a hard no on a presidential bid?

Republican House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan has released a new proposal with Democrat Senator Ron Wyden that would reform Medicare in a way that will ensure that seniors have real choices when it comes to their health care.

The genius of this plan is that it would allow seniors to stick with traditional fee-for-service Medicare – thus undercutting Democrat claims that Republicans are “ending Medicare as we know it.”

The irony in the Democrat’s claim is what they did to Medicare through the passage of their health care bill in 2010.  They cut $500 billion over ten years in order to fund new government programs and the created a 15-member board to make decisions about what procedures and prescriptions would be covered by Medicare – essentially standing between doctors and their patients.

Given the ever-increasing opposition to the health care law, Democrats might want to be careful about how they play this card in 2012.

Already there are consequences of the passage Obama’s government takeover of health care.

Dr. Joseph Scherzer is informing patients that he will close his practice by 2014 – when the bill goes into full effect – if it hasn’t been repealed or struck down by the courts.

While it may be years before most Americans feel the impact of President Obama’s health-care bill, a few patients in Scottsdale, Ariz., got a small taste of life under Obamacare last week when they arrived at their Dermatologist’s office only to see a sign with the following taped to the front door:

“If you voted for Obamacare, be aware these doors will close before it goes into effect.” The note is signed Joseph M. Scherzer M.D. and includes the following addendum: “****Unless Congress or the Courts repeal the BILL.”

Scherzer, who attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, has been a practicing Dermatologist in Scottsdale, Ariz., since 1976. Reached yesterday at his office, Dr. Scherzer, 63, said he plans to stop practicing before 2014 when the bill’s full impact will be felt because he refuses to deal with the headache of increased government involvement in health care.

“I’m absolutely serious [about stopping practicing] and it’s not just because I’ll be nearing 65,” Scherzer said. “The stress is what would push me out the door. From what I’ve gathered hearing from my friends and peers, most physicians I’ve heard from feel the same way.”

Scherzer said the bill’s emphasis on punitive measures for physicians not following government-prescribed treatment methods under Medicare would increase his anxiety level to the point he would no longer be able to practice medicine. The maximum fine was previously $10,000; under the bill it will now be capped at $50,000. Scherzer said the fine system makes seeing a Medicare patients a difficult and stressful exercise.

This is just the beginning of what is to come as the bill is fully implemented. It wasn’t just rhetoric during the debate when there were warnings of fewer doctors, longer wait times and the rationing of care. That is coming, and the proponents of government-run health care know it. Watch how they spin in the months to come.