Look Here For Deceptions

Here is South Carolina, or soon, wherever Mitt Romney campaigns.  And Mitt has plenty of subjects for deception.  He seems to know no end of what tale he is willing to spin.  Fasten you seat belt because Mitt is likely to win the GOP Presidential nomination and these deceptions will be coming to your living room.

In one sense, all is fair in politics.  Candidate A can say what he (or his super PAC) wants about Candidate B.  And the reverse is true too.  It is up to the voter to sort out who speaks the truth and what difference that makes.  Certain subjects, however, are really important and are too complicated for sound bites.  But not to Romney.

For example, this weekend Romney cited again why Obamacare (the Affordable Health Care Act) must be repealed.  He said President Obama would take $500 billion out of Medicare so that he could pay for the AHCA.  This would not happen on Romney’s watch if elected.

Do the math.  Overall healthcare costs are driving Medicare costs up while payroll taxes and demographics are keeping Medicare revenue too low to cover its costs.  The GOP plan (Representative Paul Ryan’s) transfers Medicare cost to the recipient as a solution.  In one sense the AHCA taking $500 billion out does the same although the Obama Administration claims the reductions are targeted at unneeded expenses.

Remember this is the same Mitt Romney who introduced the model of AHCA in Massachusetts when he was governor.  This is the same Mitt Romney who has disavowed his plan as a model for the US.  Tell me, what does he really think?

Healthcare is a very important issue.  It is too important to be demagogued.  Solving the overall health care cost quandary is a hugely difficult problem.  We already know our current system spends too much (more than any country in the world) and delivers widely different levels of care across the country.  To fix the current system is going to require some large changes and change is never easy.

Pledging to fix health care is one thing, but damning the AHCA without offering an alternative is quite another.  Unless Romney’s plan is to emulate one of the many foreign plans that deliver superior care and fractions of the current US cost, the math tells you the Romney answer lies in transferring costs to the recipient.

Let the deceptions begin.

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Tags: affordable health care act, health care costs, Healthcare, medicare, mitt romney

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