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Campaign Crawlers
Joe Biden Escapes from the Attic… Again
The VP on the loose in Boca Raton, scaring seniors and promising a free colonoscope in every pot.
Last Friday, the Obama re-election campaign allowed America’s crazy uncle to get in front of a group of Florida seniors and frighten the bejabbers out of them with horror stories about the evil designs Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have on Medicare and Social Security. As his entourage cringed in the background, Biden brayed as only he can bray. In addition to repeating long-ago-debunked claims about the Romney-Ryan Medicare plan and a new stretcher about a fictitious GOP plot to tax Social Security, the Vice President attempted to reassure his audience that ObamaCare can siphon $716 billion from Medicare while simultaneously improving their benefits. He accomplished his last feat by unilaterally adding a new benefit to Medicare — the free colonoscopy.
Biden told the crowd: “President Obama has increased the benefits available to people on Medicare…if you conclude you need a colonoscopy…you don’t have to pay a co-pay for that.” Many conservatives have pounced on this claim as if it were merely evidence that Obamacare is a vote-buying scheme. But the real problem is that it is a lie. While “reform” did add some wellness benefits to Medicare, the insinuation that colonoscopies are now free is absurd. If, for example, a screening colonoscopy actually finds a problem, the patient will almost always have some out-of-pocket expense. As Medicare puts it, “If a screening test results in the biopsy or removal of a lesion or growth, the procedure is considered diagnostic and you may have to pay coinsurance or a copayment.”
Having delivered himself of the “free colonoscopy” whopper, Biden moved on to the latest fictional work of horror created by the script writers of the Obama reelection campaign: “If Gov. Romney’s plan goes into effect, it could mean that everyone, every one of you, would be paying more on taxes on your Social Security…The average senior would have to pay $460 a year more in taxes for their Social Security. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s…while these guys are…hemorrhaging tax cuts for the super wealthy.” This baloney is based on a “study” by the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the left-leaning Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, and it amounts to nothing more than speculation based on a variety of assumptions not found in any Romney proposal.
As Arlette Saenz reports, “Romney’s plan does not specify that he would achieve such goals by raising taxes on Social Security. When Romney unveiled his plan in 2011, he promised there would be no tax hikes on Social Security benefits.” Nonetheless, there was good old Joe, telling the seniors of Boca Raton that Romney was planning to raise taxes on them. The irony here is that Biden himself actually has voted to raise taxes on Social Security, when he voted for President Clinton’s 1993 budget, Saenz writes. Oddly, the vice president neglected to mention that vote. The Romney campaign reminded him: “These attacks will backfire when voters learn he has repeatedly supported higher Social Security taxes.”
Biden has, however, never been one to let mere facts prevent him from demagoguing an issue. He went on with stretcher after stretcher. Like the rest of the president’s accomplices, he continues to repeat the thoroughly debunked claim that Romney and Ryan want to replace Medicare with a voucher system. As I pointed out last week, the researchers at Factcheck.org have failed to find a scrap of evidence that the Republican plan involves vouchers. Nonetheless, Biden assured his audience that he and Obama could be trusted not to “voucherize” Medicare: “Folks, I ask you the rhetorical question: Can you imagine me as vice president, can you imagine the president supporting a plan that would, under any circumstances, would raise the cost for seniors $6,400, your out-of-pocket?”
This bit about the $6,400 increase in out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare patients is another feature of the fictional Romney-Ryan “voucher” program, and it is, as Biden and his fellow demagogues know perfectly well, another lie. As it happens, the people at Factcheck.org have also been forced to shoot down this claim after it was repeated over and over again at the Democratic National Convention. They wrote:
We once again heard misrepresentations of the Medicare plan that Romney and Paul Ryan have proposed. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and labor leader Mary Kay Henry both said the plan would cost seniors $6,400, but that’s a reference to an outdated Ryan plan, not the more generous one he, and Romney, now back.
The truly Orwellian feature of Biden’s “Mediscare” speech in Boca Raton, and speeches by other Obama administration officials, is that it is their own policies that should frighten seniors. Obamacare created the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a fifteen member panel of unelected bureaucrats whose primary mission is to ration health care to Medicare patients, and over time, Obama, Biden and their cronies are becoming less and less reticent about their plans to save money by denying care to the elderly. Just a couple of weeks ago, a former Obama administration official wrote a New York Times column whose first four words were, “We need death panels.” It goes on to advocate “allocating health care resources more prudently — rationing, by its proper name…”
That costs can be controlled without pulling the plug on Granny has never occurred to these people, despite the success in the Medicare Part D program, whose free market innovations actually worked. Unfortunately, in the minds of Biden and his boss, “cost control” means government-imposed rationing of care. If they succeed in scaring seniors into voting against Romney and Ryan with lies like those told by crazy old Joe last Friday, seniors will rue the day they fell for the scam — if they live.
About the Author
David Catron is a health care revenue cycle expert who has spent more than twenty years working for and consulting with hospitals and medical practices. He has an MBA from the University of Georgia and blogs at Health Care BS.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (38) | Leave a comment
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spike59| 10.1.12 @ 6:36AM
it'ss become a running joke in our office: whenever anyone says something astoundingly stupid and/or dishonest, he/she is referred to as a "joe biden...bless his heart"
The Avenger| 10.1.12 @ 6:45AM
Biden reinforces my view that he and Obama should be relegated to the trash bin of history every time he speaks. To think that a man with the intellect of Biden is a heartbeat away from being leader of the free world is frightening to say the least.
chuck| 10.1.12 @ 7:55AM
The real problem is that he would be an improvement over the current occupier.
benny havens| 10.1.12 @ 6:48AM
A “free colonoscopy”, subject matter from the biggest ass-hole in American politics. No pun intended.
Appleby| 10.1.12 @ 6:54AM
That was pretty much what I thought when I saw the headline.
JimH| 10.1.12 @ 7:42AM
Just someone else from the government telling you to grab your ankles.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.1.12 @ 8:05AM
The VPOTUS has become an expert on colonoscopies, in that he has his own head performing the procedure on himself daily.
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 8:46AM
"Under Romney's Plan, you would Pay More Taxes on your Social Security Benefits."
Why are we paying ANY TAXES on that Money?
Because of Democrats.
It's a Forced Savings Account. Why are we paying Taxes on our Taxes?
Because of The Rapist - Bill Clinton.
Meanwhile - There is a Suspicious LACK of Absentee Ballots being sent out to Military Personnel from Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, and even some of the Non Swing States.
Hundreds of Thousands fewer of them, than last Election Cycle.
Apparently that's not Ben Stein worthy. Or, Jed Babben worthy.
No. We need one more story about how Stupid the Village Idiot is.
I can hardly wait til tomorrow.
Breaking News: Everything Sucks! Details at 11.
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 9:27AM
In fact. If you ask me? This place could use a little New Blood around here, and I know just the guy.
I nominate Albert Constantine Jr. For the job of Nominating Me for the New Writer's Position.
I'm much Smarter than Kaminsky. I have Socks that are more interesting than Stein. I don't look like George Constanza or The Phantom of the Opera. I promise not to run a Sports Page and an Obituary Page on the Side. And, I currently Work Outdoors, so my Picture, next to my Byline, won't look like I sleep in a Coffin, during the Daylight Hours.
If, and When I get this job. I ask that Albert Constantine Jr, write an Acceptance Speech.
Not for me. Heavens no.
For Himself. For his unwavering ability to put Finger to Keyboard, and bang out a Pile a Crap, like nobody's business.
Talk to me.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.1.12 @ 11:00AM
If I nominate you, do you promise not to wear one of those scarves in your photo like Tucker has in his?
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 3:10PM
Not only will I wear the Scarf, but I will wear that Scarf, and Nothing Else.
Of course that will end up Flooding this site with a Tsunami of Comments from Joellen, Tina B, and rightasrain.
That is, if they can get a word in edgewise, once Alanwhateverhegoesbytoday finds out that I'm Naked.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.1.12 @ 11:14AM
I hereby nominate Timothy L. Pennell, writing as TLP, to the position of new writer in residence at the American Spectator, where we can all enjoy the view as he cuts through the well fertilized weeds of the Left on his John Deere X749 Lawn Tractor, crushing the empty chair that is the Obama Presidency beneath it as he (like Clint in Gran Torino) tells them “Get Off My Lawn”.
Can I get a second?
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 3:21PM
I second the nomination of TLP. (ixnay on the full amenay)
Not only will I bring some Gravitas to this Oxygenarion Elitist Site. But, I will Focus the Man on the Street's Attention to the Important Scenarios that confront them, on a Daily Basis.
Such as - Why do they call it Homework? You're not working on your Home?
A vote for me, is a Vote for Common Sense, and Reality, not seen since the My Mother The Car Show, and Gilligan's Island.
I am Humbled.
Vote for Me.
Stkman| 10.1.12 @ 3:38PM
You guys are on a roll. Maybe you two should startg ojng by Martin and Leweis or Bing and Bob?
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.1.12 @ 4:12PM
If we bring back the Hope/ Crosby “Road” series, as Tom Hanks already took “The Road to Perdition”, perhaps our first film could be the story of the last four years in the US, called “The Road to Ruin”, hopefully with the sequel with a Romney victory in November “The Road to Recovery”. I will leave it to TLP to select who will be cast for the Dorothy Lamour role.
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 4:21PM
What about Purp?
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.1.12 @ 4:31PM
Regarding Purp, there’s a scene in “Road to Morocco” where a man suffering from severe mental illness and disability comes through the Marketplace, and is given food and goods by the vendors as an indulgence to Allah. I figure that’s a role he was born to play.
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 5:08PM
Is the food given to Purp by Obama?
Albert Constantine Jr.| 10.1.12 @ 6:44PM
"Is the food given to Purp by Obama?"
No, the food is a voluntary contribution from the productive (or at least, the merchant class). In the original scene, Bob Hope, who is hungry and without cash, figures it is a good way to get a free meal, feigns his own affliction by adopting a funny voice, and tries to scam his way with one of the vendors, only to discover that his target thinks he is being mocked because Hope’s crazy voice resembles the voice of the handicapped merchant, and he almost takes a beating.
In our version, following Purp’s scene, an Obama look-a-like can pass through (call him Al Bama), tell all the merchants that they’re not responsible for their success, they had help, and that there are trails through the desert that they didn’t build that brought their goods to market. He suggests that they can make things right with Allah by giving him “their fair share”, so that he can redistribute it.
In “The Road to Ruin”, all the merchants will give him their goods, and quietly slip away, looking for a new marketplace. In “The Road to Recovery”, all of the merchants get together and give Al Bama (the Scamster) the beating Bob Hope almost got.
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 4:25PM
Maybe you should get a Spell Check app?
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 4:26PM
Just klidding.
I meant to do that.
ssabmud| 10.1.12 @ 6:01PM
You got my vote every day of the week !
Occam's Tool| 10.1.12 @ 4:50PM
Yes, especially if all he wears is the scarf (better still is to do the full monty python of asscrack/tophat/and bowtie.
Occam's Tool| 10.1.12 @ 4:51PM
Sorry, parenthesis come in pairs, yes?
I second TLP.
Colonoscopies require MDs to do them, who may not accept the payment Medicare gives out.
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 5:12PM
According to Albert.
Biden is doing his own Colonoscapies with his head?
My question is - Is this in concert with The Obamacare Diktats?
Or, does he have to Pay a Penalty?
I mean: A Tax.
Pecos Pete| 10.1.12 @ 7:46PM
I'd second the nomination also, except Tim has consigned me to a foxhole by myself.
Louis Jenkins| 10.1.12 @ 8:25AM
It's true. You do get a free colonoscopy, and if they find a lesion, pollop, or whatever, then you have to pay. And if those who vote for Obama-Biden have the procedure done, yes, something will be found. But Biden, like his boss, stretches the truth til there's no recognition of it. These gypsies have run amuk, and it's time to get rid of them.
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 9:01AM
W
Bill8472| 10.1.12 @ 9:33AM
My current deductible for Medicare drug prescriptions is over $6,000 right now. It might be $6,400, I don't know. So what's the difference between what's happening in Medicare right now, under President Obama, and what will happen if Mitt Romney is elected President?
oldeham| 10.1.12 @ 10:24AM
PT Barnum would have loved this guy - great warmup clown for the main event.
PolishKnight| 10.1.12 @ 10:49AM
Another irony of the left is that they're throwing seniors, traditionally one of their most loyal groups, under the bus similar to what they did to working class white males who also were at one time loyal. The tipping point for the latter is referred to by many of them as "The Archie Bunker era" in the late 60's when the left realized that working and middle class white guys had wised up and they'd need a new electorate (and someone to feed to them) so they stabbed that demographic in the back. A mere 20 years earlier, "Archie" would have loved the Democrats.
Now seniors are in the same boat. The smart ones are "getting it" while the less swift are loyal to FDR and JFK and thinking it's impossible it could happen to them because the nice man on their nightly broadcast tells them so.
Despite claims by the left that they're out to help the "little guy", they always, repeat always, wind up having to toss some politically marginalized group (usually the one they marginalized) to the wolves in order to feed another electorate or crony. They can therefore never create the egalitarian society they promised since their political system requires otherwise.
Kwan| 10.1.12 @ 10:55AM
WARNING: Donot use a BS Detector at a Joe "Buckwheat" Biden campaign rally. These devices tend to explode as their circuits become overloaded with BS from a typical Buckwheat Biden shake-up-the-crowd campaign speech. This warning also applies to his running mate Barack "Stymie" Obama.
Kwan| 10.1.12 @ 11:01AM
WARNING: Donot use a BS Detector at a Joe "Buckwheat" Biden campaign rally. These devices tend to explode as their circuits become overloaded with BS from a typical Buckwheat Biden shake-up-the-crowd campaign speech. This warning also applies to his running mate Barack "Stymie" Obama.
WhiteBikerTrash| 10.1.12 @ 3:37PM
Could B.S. stand for "Biden Says"?
TLP| 10.1.12 @ 4:23PM
I'm thinking - Big Sis.
Anthony| 10.1.12 @ 4:33PM
The village idiot is coming to Connecticut, one of the "safe states". The Obozo campaign can't risk having this moron out in front of real folks so they'll send him to tony Northwest CT where Obozo is loved and adored, no matter what idiocy comes out of Biteme's mouth.
However, CT is in play with one senate and congressional seat, despite what the whores in the MSM say about this election.
It's good that the Ds have to spend time and money in CT, because despite these phony polls, no state is all that safe for Obozo, even CT.
tol35| 10.1.12 @ 5:37PM
New Medicare guideline, no screening colonoscopy after age 74. VA no more PSA screenings for us old guys unless you specifically request it. Yes folks these are the current guidelines under the Obama Administration. It is happening now.
sly311| 10.2.12 @ 12:14PM
The problem is EVERYONE should pay some kind of co-pay. The problem is WAY TOO MANY freebies. The problem is an entitlement mentality. The problem is a demanding entitlement mentality. This is why I LOATHE liberals. Simple.