Lyin’ Ryan’s Medi-Scare

While Democrats want to save our senior safety nets, Republicans like Paul Ryan want to set these programs up for future tinkering that in many ways will shift any future shortfalls onto income strapped Americans.

That’s the difference between the two parties, and a big one.

PolitiFact destroys Ryan’s Deception:

Ryan’s point, made at a WisPolitics.com event on May 5, 2014, is that Medicare must be reformed because it is "going broke. The trust fund goes bankrupt in 2026." To back his claim Ryan cited the Medicare trustees, "Payment of expenditures in full and on time will continue to require redemption of trust fund assets most years until the (Part A) trust fund’s depletion in 2026."

Even if the Part A (hospitals) trust fund ran out, the report Ryan cites projects that revenue would still be enough to pay 87 percent of the Part A expenses. Not a good situation, perhaps, but also not Medicare being bankrupt or shutting down.

The projected depletion of the Part A trust fund in 2026 is nine years later than what the Medicare trustees projected in 2009, the year before the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, according to Medicare expert Paul Van de Water of the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Repealing the Affordable Care Act we can then assume, would knock about nine years off Medicare’s trust fund, adding to the chaos of millions of dropped marketplace policies.

PolitiFact’s conclusion says it all about Ryan’s deceptive way of getting what he wants:

For a statement that contains an element of truth, but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, we give Ryan a Mostly False.