AARP: Health Care Reform Bills Won't Do What RNC Says

You may be surprised to hear this, but the Republican National Committee is working very hard to scare seniors about the health care reform legislation in Congress with misleading information.  Earlier this week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele published an op-ed outlining "GOP Principles for Health Care" (but no actual legislation, of course). In it, he warns of many bad things he thinks will happen if "the Democrats' plan" is passed into law.

The AARP isn't buying his scare tactics. The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder:  

But the AARP, one of the more powerful lobbying groups in DC, especially on health care, thanked and agreed with Steele on the points of his [Seniors' Health Care] Bill of Rights--such as no cutting of Medicare and no "dictating the terms of end-of-life care--and said the proposals from President Obama don't threaten to do any of the things Steele suggests seniors should be worried about.

"We are pleased nothing in the bills would bring about the type of scenarios the RNC is concerned about," AARP says.

Opponents of Obama's reforms say they'll cut Medicare; Democrats insist Medicare spending would only be lowered through cutting waste. Based on what it's seen so far, AARP is fully on board with Democrats here: "Nothing we've seen in these bills would cut Medicare benefits," an AARP official said; in a full statement yesterday, the group stressed how Obama's reforms would help Medicare.

It's still amazing how so much of the coordinated opposition to the health care legislation in Congress is completely dependant on bad information. That says something about the strength of their actual arguments, no?