Touch the Third Rail And Die— The Party of Cruelty Strikes Again

Senate Republicans Aren’t Just Coming For Medicaid; They’re Looking at Medicare Too— And Think We Won’t Notice

How'd that work out?

The phrase “third rail” in politics came into common usage in the early 1980s, commonly attributed to Tip O'Neill. His metaphor quickly caught on because it so perfectly captured the political danger of touching Social Security or Medicare, immensely popular programs, eyed for privatization by Reagan era Republicans. Today, Social Security provides retirement income to over 67 million Americans, while Medicare provides healthcare coverage to over 65 million seniors and disabled individuals. These beneficiaries vote at very high rates and are extremely protective of their benefits to the point, when necessary, of being one-issue voters.

Any politician who proposes cutting, privatizing or significantly “reforming” these programs risks immediate and severe political backlash. Even many conservative voters who generally oppose government spending strongly support Social Security and Medicare because they've paid into these systems their entire working lives. This is why the programs are often called politically “untouchable,” and why politicians typically approach any discussion of their long-term financing challenges very carefully, if at all.

And while Trump— who knows this— was busy yesterday fighting with his former “best buddy,” some Senate Republicans grabbed the third rail but talking about note just Medicaid cuts but Medicare cuts as well. These two graphics, one for Medicaid and one for Medicare, came from a recent Navigator poll analysis:

We all get old and Medicare is a literal life saver for anyone who isn’t a multimillionaire. People know the danger to the programs is coming from the GOP, something Trump, MAGA Mike and mainstream conservatives have gone out of their way to deny. Yesterday Hans Nichols and Stef Kight blew their cover. The wrote that “Republicans know they are playing with fire by making significant changes to Medicaid. Now GOP senators are eyeing Medicare as well. Medicare is part of the third rail of politics. Still, some GOP senators think they can find billions in savings without paying a political price. ‘ Find me an American who thinks we should have waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare,’ Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) told reporters. Trump gave GOP senators a green light on Wednesday to explore ways to save money on Medicare... 'The president is willing to eliminate any waste, fraud and abuse anywhere,' Sen. Ron Johnson (WI) told us about the White House meeting."

The House-passed bill included hundreds of billions in Medicaid cuts. The CBO estimates those changes would cause at least 11 million Americans to lose their health care coverage. A last-minute push from [right-wing extremists] tried and failed to create even deeper cuts on the Medicaid side... [Mainstream conservatives] successfully blocked the attempt.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) a staunch Medicaid defender, called potential cuts to Medicare a "terrible idea" and "crazy," according to Bloomberg.

But one possibility is a bipartisan bill from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), which is cosponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and has been supported by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It would extract savings from the Medicare Advantage program by clamping down on "upcoding," which supporters say would eliminate incentives to overcharge Medicare. Privately, top GOP strategists are worried, convinced that they may be handing Democrats an issue on Medicare to help them improve their standing with senior citizens, who have high turnout in midterm elections.

Republicans have spent decades trying to dress up their assaults on social insurance programs as “reform,” but the costume’s wearing thin. Behind all the bluster about “waste, fraud, and abuse” lies the same brutal truth: they want to take healthcare away from people who need it so they can give more tax breaks to the ultra-rich donors who fund their campaigns and careers. This is class war… not just a debate about budgeting priorities. Similarly, their gleeful willingness to kick over 10 million people off Medicaid is more a moral failure than a garden variety policy disagreement. They’re not trying to make the system better; they’re trying to make it smaller, crueler and more profitable for the insurance industry predators and privatization vultures who circle every major federal program. And now they’re coming for Medicare, the program that working Americans have paid into their whole lives. Reforms? No way— they’re betrayals.

That Republicans are openly floating these attacks in an election year— at a time when healthcare costs remain a top concern for voters— shows just how divorced they are from the lives of ordinary people. For all their talk about defending seniors, veterans and the working class, they’re willing to rip up the very programs keeping millions of us alive and with a fig-leaf dignity. They’re counting on confusion, misinformation from thier media allies at Fox and short memories to blunt the fallout. But older voters aren’t stupid— and neither are their kids or grandkids.

Anyone who votes to slash Medicare or Medicaid should be permanently disqualified from ever again claiming to care about “family values,” “life,” or “freedom.” You can’t say you support freedom while taking away someone’s ability to see a doctor or fill a prescription. This is what the GOP is now— an unserious party of petty strongmen and free-market fundamentalists who worship wealth and despise vulnerability. If the DCCC and DSCC can’t bludgeon them with this issue and win back older, working-class voters, they need to turn in their licenses and go back to civics class.