Medicare Remains A Potent Political Weapon

NPR reports:

Just how powerful is Medicare as a political weapon? So powerful that for the past two election cycles it's been a favorite cudgel for both Republicans and Democrats.

And the election of Democrat Kathy Hochul to fill a traditionally GOP seat in upstate New York in May is just the latest demonstration.

Hochul and the national Democratic party ran a campaign based on large part on the House Republican Budget passed in April that would essential privatize the government program for the elderly and disabled. And their campaign worked.

Harvard political scientist and pollster Robert Blendon isn't surprised. "Older Americans tend to vote at much higher rates than other voters," he says. At the same time, he adds, "they are the group that most care about health care as a voting issue."

It was Republicans, however, that got the better of the Medicare issue last year. That's when, of all the hundreds of provisions in the massive health care overhaul law, they zeroed in on the fact that it would reduce Medicare spending by a half trillion dollars over 10 years.

"Grayson and Kosmas — they betrayed the trust of Florida's seniors," proclaimed one ad the conservative senior group 60 Plus ran targeting central Florida Democrats Alan Grayson and Suzanne Kosmas, both of whom voted for the health bill. "And this November, we'll remember," seniors say at the end of the spot.

Ads like that helped Republicans sweep Grayson, Kosmas, and dozens of their Democratic colleagues out of office and the GOP into the House majority.