October 12, 2010

Ron Johnson teevee ad not "barely true"

What it is is "misleading and inaccurate."

Johnson: "Russ Feingold cut Medicare by $523 billion."
"The figure is an estimate of future savings over the next 10 years ... There is no cut in benefits that Medicare recipients will receive. Absolutely no cut in benefits."
Ron Johnson wants to repeal half a trillion dollars in savings.

Some accountant.

3 comments:

gnarlytrombone said...

Colorado Republican Senate candidate calls Johnson's claim "absolutely despicable."

Jeremy R. Shown said...

The Tax Policy center reported about $300bn of the savings comes from changes in the Medicare Fee For Service schedule.

While not technically a benefit cut, what's going to happen when those revised fees become a reality? I suspect members of AARP will be tageted for advertising by members of the AMA. Older folks are still a reliable political lever after all.

If, in response, congress repeals the cuts (it won't be Johnson alone) then the savings don't materialize and the health reform produces a cost curve bent in exactly the wrong direction.

In either case,the last thing any of us will have to worry about will be a RoJo "teevee ad".

Of course, if I could figure out how to convey all of this in a clever television advertisement, maybe I'd run for Senate.

illusory tenant said...

Don't look at me, I'm baffled by all the resistance against taking steps toward ensuring that more Americans get some health care coverage at all. And apparently I'm not alone, as the polls show that a fair amount of the opposition to the health care reform bill stems from thinking that it didn't go far enough toward that end (which is as I would have expected).

And if Ron Johnson is actually a viable candidate for the U.S. Senate, then you should be running for president. Of the universe.