Who Will Mediscare the Dems?

[Geee]

American Thinker:

Some conservatives are getting nervous about the polls on Medicare. Apparently about 80 percent of Americans are opposed to cuts in Medicare. Mona Charen, for one, is steeling herself for the inevitable Mediscare campaign from the Democrats.

The Democrats have always known how to scare the pants off grannie at any suggestion of cuts to Medicare and Social Security. For years and years, Republicans didn't know how to respond to their Mediscare. But now things are different. These days the American people are good and scared about debts and deficits. So it's now possible to scare the pants off granny if we don't fix Medicare.

And this time, we have the president on our side. President Obama obligingly brought up the Independent Payment Advisory Board -- the "death panel" that exercised Sarah Palin a couple of years ago -- for praise in his George Washington University speech April 13. Said the president:

And we will slow the growth of Medicare costs by strengthening an independent commission of doctors, nurses, medical experts and consumers who will look at all the evidence and recommend the best ways to reduce unnecessary spending while protecting access to the services that seniors need.

The IPAB is not in the business of lowering health costs, the Wall Street Journal writes. Its mandate has nothing to do with "bending the cost curve." Its job is to lower Medicare reimbursements.