GOP's New Obamacare Attack: Hitting Medicare Cuts They Voted For
Source: TPM
SAHIL KAPUR – FEBRUARY 13, 2014, 3:24 PM EST
Obamacare enrollment is picking up steam, and Republicans have shifted their line of attack against the dreaded law. Their latest beef? The cuts to private insurers under Medicare Advantage will harm seniors.
"We write to express deep concern about the impact of the cuts imposed by your health care law on the Medicare Advantage (MA) program and the recent action by [the Center For Medicare & Medicaid Services] to fundamentally dismantle the Medicare prescription drug program," wrote six House GOP leaders in a letter to President Barack Obama on Thursday. "These cuts, in addition to proposed rules issued by CMS, will force millions of American seniors to face higher health care costs or lose access to their doctor, health plan, lifesaving drugs, and the benefits they've come to rely on."
It's a curious line of attack because the GOP's own budget proposals by House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) in 2011, 2012 and 2013 continued those cuts, and Republicans voted overwhelmingly for them each of those years. That includes every signatory on the letter: Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Energy & Commerce Chair Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ways & Means Chair Dave Camp (R-MI).
"Congressional Republicans are being totally two-faced about this issue," House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told TPM. "Now they're attacking the president for something the Republicans included in their own budget, and voted for unanimously on their own budget. This is just a rerun of the last campaign with Mitt Romney attacked the president on this issues, and as soon as the campaign was over Paul Ryan included all these savings in their own budget."
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/house-gop-letter-obama-obamacare-medicare-advantage
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