Tuesday, August 2, 2011

More Amnesia: Democrats Said They Would CUT Premiums — Not Just Slow Their Growth

At the HELP Committee hearing, Senator Franken just claimed that Democrats NEVER said premiums would go down – they said premiums would just go up by less than expected.  Well, that’s not what Democrats have argued, on several levels.

Democrats have frequently said they did NOT “cut” Medicare as part of Obamacare – they merely “slowed the growth rate.”  Well, by that logic, a CUT constitutes a premium reduction in absolute terms – not just slowing the growth of premium increases, as Senator Franken claimed.

Still don’t believe me?  Well, to quote Reading Rainbow, don’t take my word for it.  A series of campaign quotes from candidate Obama – all talking about CUTTING premiums (i.e., reductions in absolute terms) by $2,500 per family – are listed here.  If you’d prefer video evidence instead, you can find a clip of Obama making the $2,500 premium cut promise 20 separate times here.