Romney Running Misleading Medicare Robo-Calls
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is running a robo-call campaign that asserts that President Obama "is raiding $716 billion from Medicare," The Huffington Post reports.
The claim that Obama has "stolen" or "robbed" about $700 billion from Medicare was first rolled out by Republicans after the announcement of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as Romney's running mate and was intended to counter criticisms of Ryan's plan to partially privatize the entitlement program.
As pointed out by fact-checkers, the claim is not true. In fact, Obama's efforts to rein in Medicare costs will not reduce services for beneficiaries and are aimed at making the program viable for an additional eight years.
In response to criticism of the claim, the Romney campaign has issued a statement saying, “Barack Obama cut $716 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare. President Obama has said it is true, his campaign has admitted it is true, and news sources report it is true. The effect of this will be felt directly by beneficiaries, not simply providers and insurers, because that is how the real world works. Costs are passed along, services are curtailed, and the quality of care worsens."
