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Telling Grandma ‘No’
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Aug 17, 2009 01:15pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| Author | ROSS DOUTHAT |
| Media | Newspaper - New York Times |
| News Date | Sunday, August 16, 2009 07:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | If the Democratic Party’s attempt at health care reform perishes, senior citizens will have done it in, not talk-radio listeners and Glenn Beck acolytes. It’s the skepticism of over-65 Americans that’s dragging support for reform southward. And it’s their opposition to cost-cutting that makes finding the money to pay for it so difficult.
That’s because they’re the ones whose benefits are on the chopping block. At present, Medicare gives its recipients all the benefits of socialized medicine, with few of the drawbacks. Once you hit 65, the system pays and pays, without regard for efficiency or cost-effectiveness.
For liberals trying to find the money to make health insurance universal, these inefficiencies make Medicare an obvious place to wring out savings. But you can’t blame the elderly if “savings” sound a lot like “cuts.” When the president talks about shearing waste from Medicare, and empowering an independent panel to reduce the program’s long-term costs — well, he isn’t envisioning a world where seniors get worse care, but he’s certainly envisioning a world in which they receive less of it.
This is politically perilous, to say the least — and Republicans have noticed.
That’s why Republicans find themselves tiptoeing into an unfamiliar role — as champions of old-age entitlements. |
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