Campaign 2010

Sep 26, 2011

FACT CHECK: Ryan’s False Claims About His Own House Republican Budget

Tonight during the Facebook Live Town Hall, House Republican Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (WI-01) made two false and misleading claims about his controversial House Republican budget. Ryan claimed that his plan doesn’t affect current seniors and his plan offers coverage like Members of Congress receive. Neither claim is true.

 

FALSE CLAIM #1: Claimed that his controversial budget proposal doesn’t “affect current seniors.”

 

FACT CHECK:  In reality, the Republican budget would reopen the prescription drug donut hole, costing each of the four million seniors who fall into the coverage gap $2.2 billion next year alone. Ryan’s budget would also cut funding for the nearly 1 million long-term care patients currently relying on Medicaid.

 

  • Republican Plan Would Affect Current Seniors. “Republicans say their Medicare plan wouldn’t affect anybody near retirement age. But it would. Republicans are convinced that burnishing the public’s view of their unpopular proposal to overhaul Medicare depends on assuring today’s seniors that they won’t be affected […] There’s only one problem with the strategy: It’s not true. The policies in the House GOP budget, if enacted, would begin affecting millions of seniors almost immediately by increasing their costs for prescription drugs and probably long-term care. Further, Medicare costs could rise over time if healthier seniors choose to abandon the traditional benefit program.” [National Journal, 6/2/11]

 

  • The Republican Budget Will Force Nearly Four Million Seniors To Pay An Additional $2.2 Billion For Prescription Drugs Next Year Alone. “The Republican-passed budget will force nearly four million seniors to pay an additional $2.2 BILLION for prescription drugs next year alone.” According to the Associated Press, “The coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug benefit would be brought back.” [DPCC, 4/21/11; Associated Plan, 4/6/11]

 

  • Will Lead to “Rationing.” The CBO warned that higher payments could affect care as beneficiaries might be less likely to use “new, costly, but possibly beneficial, technologies and techniques.” According to NPR, that is “exactly the sort of rationing that so frightened Republicans when they were fighting the health law – the health law that Ryan’s proposal would repeal, by the way.” [NPR, 4/6/11]

 

FALSE CLAIM #2: Claimed that his controversial budget proposal is “Like the kind of system we have for Members of Congress and federal employees”

 

FACT CHECK:  In reality, Members of Congress will pay around 25 percent of their health care costs while the share seniors pay would rise to 68 percent under the House Republican Budget according the independent Congressional Budget Office. The Washington Post’s Fact Checker called the claim “false and misleading.”

 

  • False and Misleading: GOP lawmakers tout Medicare reform by stretching a comparison to the health benefits they receive. “During the congressional recess, Rep. Ryan and other Republican lawmakers have been selling their proposal to restructure Medicare with what appears to be a poll-tested phrase: It will be similar to a system ‘just like’ what members of Congress have. The phrase pops up in all sorts of news releases and interviews with members of Congress, as well as no less than five times in the budget plan crafted by Rep. Ryan. […] Ryan’s phrase is alluring — many Americans apparently believe that members of Congress get great benefits — but is it accurate? […] We think the reference to the health plan for members of Congress gives a false and misleading impression to ordinary people. Two Pinocchios.” [Washington Post, 4/29/11]

 

  • Members of Congress Only Pay 25% of Their Health Care Costs. The Washington Post reported that members of Congress currently only contribute 25% toward their total health care costs. According to the newspaper, “Under a 1997 law, the government pays a set rate of 75 percent of the costs of the health plans selected by federal employees and members of Congress. The employee (and members of Congress) pick up the other 25 percent.” [Washington Post, 4/29/11]

 

  • Under the GOP Plan, Future Retirees Will Pay 68% of their Health Care Costs. The Washington Post reported that the Congressional Budget Office estimated retirees would eventually have to pay 68% of their health care costs. According to the newspaper, “The Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan arm of Congress, analyzed Ryan’s plan and estimated that by 2030, the government would pay just 32 percent of the health care costs, less than half of what the federal plan currently pays. The other 68 percent of the plan would have to be shouldered by the retiree. (The CBO estimated that if traditional Medicare stayed in place, the government would pay 70 to 75 percent of the costs.)” [Washington Post, 4/29/11]

 

  • NYT: Proposal for Medicare Is Unlike Federal Employee Plan. “House Republicans say their budget proposal would make Medicare work just like the health insurance that covers federal employees, including members of Congress. But a close examination shows the two plans are very different, and the differences help explain why the Republican plan has set off a political uproar.” [NY Times, 5/1/11]

 

  • It’s Fundamentally Different. The Republican’s Medicare proposal include in their budget is “fundamentally different from the kind of employer-provided health insurance that members of Congress receive.”  [POLITIFACT, 4/13/11]

 

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