Paul Ryan Gets His Medicare Lies Straight From Koch Funded TV Ads

Last updated on August 21st, 2012 at 01:00 am

The GOP’s so called policy wonk showed the true depth of his intellect today by repeating the Koch Brothers talking points on Medicare to seniors.

According to Fox News, Ryan said, “Here is what the president won’t tell you about his Medicare plan—about Obamacare. The president raids 716 billion dollars from the Medicare program to pay for the Obamacare program. What’s more? In addition to that, he puts a board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of Medicare who are required to cut Medicare in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors. You want to know what Medicare is saying about this? From Medicare officials themselves, 1 out of 6 of our hospitals and our nursing homes will go out of business as a result of this. Four million seniors are projected to lose their Medicare advantage plans that they enjoy and they chose today under this Obamacare plan. What’s worse is the president’s campaign calls this an achievement. Do you think raiding Medicare to pay for Obamacare is an achievement? Do you think empowering a board of bureaucrats to cut Medicare an achievement? Neither do I.”

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If you live in Ohio, Florida, Montana or Michigan that line about the 15 bureaucrats should sound familiar, and here’s why. A group called the 60 Plus Association, which bills itself as the conservative alternative to the AARP funded this ad starring Pat Boone.

The ad made the claim that, the 15 member IAPB board is “a Medicare IRS with the power to cut Medicare to pay for new government programs.” This is the same claim that Paul Ryan made, and PolitiFact Ohio has rated it a pants on fire lie.

PolitiFact Ohio explained what the board really does, “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act creates the 15-member Independent Payment Advisory Board to suggest ways to limit Medicare’s spending growth. It can be overruled by Congress. Its appointments will be done in public. It will not make decisions on individual cases. The board can reduce how much the government pays health care providers for services, reduce payments to hospitals with very high rates of readmissions or recommend innovations that cut wasteful spending. It may not raise premiums for Medicare beneficiaries or increase deductibles, co-insurance or co-payments. The IPAB also cannot change who is eligible for Medicare, restrict benefits or make recommendations that would raise revenue.”

After Citizens United, the 60 Plus Association mysteriously started raising millions of dollars and running attack ads against congressional Democrats. The group claims to be a seniors advocacy group, but in an interview with Republic Report, 60 Plus President Jim Martin admitted that he expects Charles and David Koch along with other right wing billionaires to fund his organization.

The Romney/Ryan strategy on Medicare is to try to win the debate by reviving yesteryear’s Obamacare/Medicare lies. Paul Ryan wasn’t defending his plan. He was lying about President Obama’s using Koch Brothers funded falsehoods.

The question isn’t which candidate will protect Medicare, but do you believe that Koch Brothers have the program’s best interests at heart?

From the Koch Brothers wallets and out of Paul Ryan’s lips, Barack Obama is running against the best candidates that the Koch Brothers could buy.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association