When I watched Paul Ryan’s speech at the AARP conference on 9/21/12 I was actually relieved to hear him utter some truths. One was that Medicare and Medicaid actuaries themselves had concerns over how funding the Act would occur as expressed and noted in Richard S. Foster’s April 22, 2010 memo. The other was that the President has not discussed the details of the Affordable Care Act with the American people, also true.
On Friday, Paul Ryan plugged in “numbers” that have been bandied about by both sides, projections, predictions, all uncertain. As untrue as the new math the President uses to discuss how the no-insurance tax on citizens will fund the Act, Ryan inserted projections of what it will cost to fund the Act.
Still, most of the headlines about Paul Ryan’s speech focused on being booed. But why did Ryan choose to dialogue in this way at all with AARP?
By promising those over 55 that their benefits would not be touched, both the President and Mitt Romney made a naked play for the senior vote. Although AARP membership is available for those over 50, who are likely to be negatively impacted financially by either the President or Mitt Romney, the over 55s were shamelessly placated with promises that they were safe.
In the new America of scarcity, nothing is more meaningful to any segment of society than assurance that they’re safe from the next wave of governmental “fixing”. So it was a stunning misstep for Mr. Ryan to address AARP warning of what lies ahead.
By throwing out the mantra about repealing Obamacare, Ryan also went backwards, ignoring Mitt Romney’s current statements that he would not work to repeal every feature of the Act.
All in all, in spite of its nuggets of truth, the discussion of Medicare at the AARP meeting was a step backwards, leaving us scratching our heads as to who exactly is expressing the Romney-Ryan attitude, Romney or Ryan.
