ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230030
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DEMOCRATS HAVE made considerable headway in the polls by scaring people about GOP designs on Medicare. The latest example is a TV ad aired around the country, sponsored by the AFL-CIO, which repeats accusations that this or that Republican member of Congress voted "with Newt Gingrich to cut Medicare."
In fact, both Republicans and the White House have called for slowing the growth of Medicare spending - only by different amounts.
The Democrats' Medicare strategy discredits not just the party leadership, but all Americans too willing to be sucked in by such demagoguery. "We the People" are quick to blame politicians for institutional gridlock. But the politicians hear loud and clear the call to reduce government - by cutting someone else's benefits.
The fact that the Medicare strategy is working does not, however, make it any less cynical - or less harmful. It may serve Democrats well in the November elections, but only at the cost of delaying and making more difficult Medicare's needed restructuring.
Demography is the problem. Thirty years ago, about 10 percent of the population was eligible for Medicare. Now, almost 15 percent is eligible. By the time Baby Boomers retire, the number will have jumped to 20 percent. Meantime, the entitlement program already is spending more than it collects. By one estimate, the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will run out of money in the year 2001. The trend isn't sustainable.
This is not to let Republicans off the hook. Their brand of election-year pandering - tax-cut proposals - also cynically neglects the fiscal trend. And specifics of their Medicare proposals are misguided. Instead of seeking higher premiums from those who can afford to pay them, they call for across-the-board cuts for all recipients, disproportionately hitting low-income people.
They also call for tax-free medical savings accounts. As Wall Street Journal writer Gerald Seib observes, these "may risk giving healthy and prosperous Americans an attractive alternative to Medicare, while leaving the sick and struggling trapped in a government system that is declining in quality and clout."
But this is getting ahead of ourselves. We can't yet hold a serious, national discussion of these issues because the Democrats' "Medi-scare" campaign has, with the people's blessing, shut it out. The cost, not to mention the intergenerational consequences, of a fix will only grow larger.
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