During the week of September 22, the Associated Press (AP) ran two articles comparing and constrasting the Medicare Reform proposals of former Illinois Senator Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Romney based on a set of Medicare-related questions asked of the two presidential candidates. You would think that the AP would have asked the two candidates exactly the same questions but apparently that would not have elicited the answers AP wanted. So instead AP asked the following series of questions (in order of how they appeared in each of the AP articles):
- Obama: Q. It is lovely here in the Rose Garden. Don't you think a grandmother on Medicare would love the view?
- Romney: Q. When did you stop beating this grandmother on Medicare?
- Obama: Q: What new costs can seniors expect under Obama’s plan for Medicare?
- Romney: Q. What happens if (your) fixed health insurance payment for future retirees fails to keep up with rising medical costs?
- Obama: Q. (Haven't you hinted at a willingness) to increase the eligibility age for Medicare?
- Romney: Q: (You said you) would repeal Obama’s health care overhaul. Would (you) reinstate Medicare benefits improved by the law? They include closing the prescription drug coverage gap — the ‘‘doughnut hole’’ — and expanding coverage of preventive care with no copays.
- Obama: Q. What will (you) do if seniors start having problems getting the care they need?
- Romney: Q. (Do you) guarantee that (you) will protect traditional Medicare from any future cuts?
- Obama: Q. Please tell us again the story about how your mother died of cancer because a healthcare insurance company refused to cover her treatements?
- Romney: Q. Isn't it true that you have lied in every campaign you've ever conducted and that we cannot believe any of your answers?
It would have been nice if the AP had asked each candidate the same questions. Maybe I'll do it in a future post.
-- Dennis Byron
