Republicans Voted to End Medicare

This, according to Politifact, is 2011's "Lie of the Year." Which is unfortunate because it's true.

Indeed, Politifact's Lie of the Year article seems to acknowledge as much in describing the object of Democratic scorn, the GOP's FY2012 budget proposal (associated with House Budget chairman Paul Ryan):

Introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the plan kept Medicare intact for people 55 or older, but dramatically changed the program for everyone else by privatizing it and providing government subsidies.

If the difference between the situation for those subject to the GOP's plan and those who are exempted from it (i.e. those 55 or older) is that Medicare is "kept intact" for the latter, the point has been conceded. The clear implication, of course, is that Medicare is not kept intact for those young enough to be subject to the GOP's plan. And indeed it isn't.

So, despite Politifact's self-congratulatory and sanctimonious follow-up to the outcry over their mystifying choice in which they blame the ideologues of the "Echo Chamber Nation" for not recognizing how their "independently researched information" has "disrupted the status quo," the essential facts remain:

	Medicare	GOP (Ryan) Budget
Public health insurer (CMS) exists	✓	x
Gov't reimburses doctors and hospitals for medical services rendered to seniors	✓	x
Guaranteed benefit	✓	x
Seniors must look for private commercial insurance plan	x	✓

Medicare is a public health insurance plan that pays seniors' doctor and hospital bills. The fact that it reimburses providers directly is part of its great power. It can thus tell hospitals that if they want to receive reimbursements from it, the hospitals must provide emergency stabilizing care regardless of citizenship or ability to pay. It can subsidize graduate medical education by folding extra money directly into its reimbursements. It can jumpstart a health information technology revolution by offering bonuses to participating doctors and hospitals who start using electronic health records. It can provide incentives for providers to offer higher-value care and begin changing the ways they deliver that care.

Those things are all gone under the GOP's budget, which instead pushes future seniors to look for Anthem or Aetna or some other private plan if they want coverage. Not right away--which is the only point Politifact even tries to offer in its own defense. Because the proposal grandfathers in existing beneficiaries and people within 10 years of becoming eligible for Medicare, the program doesn't end overnight. It dwindles over time as, starting in 2022, no one is allowed to enroll in it and those grandfathered into it die off or are squeezed out of it by a shrinking provider network and rising premiums.

Yes, it's phased out instead of abruptly eliminated. But last I checked, phasing something out is still ending it. And as Politifact implicitly conceded, under the GOP's proposal Medicare is no longer intact for future generations. So I'm afraid it's true. In April 2011, the Republicans voted to end Medicare.