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Republicans often accuse Democrats of trying to scare seniors about GOP plans for Medicare and Social Security. However, Democrats' warnings are rooted in reality. Republicans have tried to undermine these critical social insurance plans for years. Unfortunately, McCain and Palin are no different.
Take Medicare. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center estimates that McCain's health plan would cost $1.3 trillion over ten years. To pay for this, Senator McCain has proposed some minor changes in Medicare; however, no expert believes these can achieve the savings needed to finance the McCain-Palin health plan. The Wall Street Journal has reported that McCain will pay for his plan by making major cuts in Medicare
and Medicaid (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122315505846605217.html).
Although the McCain campaign has denied this story, he has not explained where he will find the money. Senator McCain is also likely to support Republican efforts to undermine fee-for-service Medicare and replace it with HMOs. He revealed his true attitude towards Medicare this past summer, when he skipped critical votes on a bill that benefitted "doctors and patients at the expense of overpaid private health plans" (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/opinion/05sat2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin).
As for Social Security, Senator McCain supports privatization. Although Republicans have said this would not impact current beneficiaries or those near retirement, seniors should worry about how it would affect their children and grandchildren.
Where will we find the trillions of dollars needed to create the private investment accounts? These would need either to be borrowed from general revenues, which of course would explode the deficit, or taken from funds needed for future retirees, requiring deep cuts in benefits.
Republicans believe the private accounts will provide enough to make up the difference. Unfortunately, we have learned the hard way that markets do not go up forever and can crash with little warning. Moreover, recoveries do not always happen quickly. It took more than two decades for stock prices to surpass their peak in 1929. It may be true that stocks pay in the long run, but we live in the short run, on a day-to-day basis. We can ill afford to gamble with Social Security, which, for most of us, is our retirement safety net.
In contrast with John McCain, Barack Obama opposes privatization and any effort to cuts benefits or raise the retirement age. Seniors should reject McCain-Palin and vote for Obama on November 4.
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