That blood-sucking, billionairre Massachusetts Republican governor candidate Charlie Baker screws thousands of seniors out of their Medicare coverage according to Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, chairman, and the rest of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA).
I was surprised to find (and very much doubt) that -- according to the Boston Globe on October 24 -- candidate Baker has opened up an almost 10-point lead in the Massachusetts governor race.
But there must be something to it because this October 23 press release is probably the most desperate and misleading political crap ever put out by the Democratic Party -- and that's clearing a very high bar. What is the absurd Democratic-Party claim about? It is:
- An event that probably happened in 1998 (if the process is the same as it is today) or early 1999, before Baker joined the about to go bankrupt Harvard Pilgrim insurance company (after a year at the Harvard Vanguard medical practice and about a half a decade in state government). If Baker was involved at all in the decision it would only have been in a nominal way.
- A decision made by Harvard not to market in 2000 (8-18 months after the decision was made) what was then called a public Part C Medicare +Choice policy (part of what is now known as the public Part C Medicare Advantage health plan program) in Western Massachusetts because so few seniors subscribed to the Harvard plan (or possibly because too few Western Massachusetts providers would participate)
- A decision made not to market a type of Medicare supplement that Democrats hate, part of a program -- Medicare Part C -- that Democrats have constantly tried to repeal in the 15 years since it was formally begun under President Clinton
- A decision to leave a market (or "screw seniors" as the DGA calls it) that Democratic Party icon and major fundraiser James Roosevelt, head of Tufts insurance company, makes every year (most notably in 2012 when Roosevelt kicked 5,000 seniors in Worcester County off of their Medicare supplement so that he could turn around and charge them $30 more a month for what was basically the same policy)
- No senior in Western Massachusetts or anywhere had their health coverage eliminated. They all always had their basic Original Medicare coverage. In addition, these particular 3,500 seniors had eight months (if the rules were the same then as they are now) to choose another Medicare +Choice plan and/or switch to a private Medigap supplement