Ryan tries to stuff ballot box for PolitiFact 'lie of the year'

Paul Ryan is trying to stuff the online ballot boxes in the national PolitiFact "lie of the year" voting, which ends Friday, Dec. 9.

One of the finalists is a claim by Democrats that Ryan's budget plan ends Medicare. the claim is 100% true. Think Progress explains:

Here is why: Ryan’s plan ends traditional fee-for-service program and forces seniors to ultimately enroll in private coverage. Under his proposal, beginning in 2022, people turning 65 will receive a pre-determined “premium support” payment to purchase private coverage. The insurers will offer a basic package of benefits, but traditional Medicare — the program that President Lyndon Johnson enacted in 1965 — will literally stop enrolling new beneficiaries.  

Rather than paying health care providers directly — and using its market clout to secure better bargains and other efficiencies for enrollees — the government would now pay multiple private health insurers pre-determined amounts per beneficiary to act as middle men between patients and providers. It will no longer guarantee seniors a defined package of benefits, but will instead only offer a defined contribution towards their health care costs.  

As the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of Ryan’s proposal explains, “the payment for 65-year-olds in 2022 is specified to be $8,000, on average, which is approximately the same dollar amount as projected net federal spending per capita for 65-year-olds in traditional Medicare.” However every subsequent year, as health care costs increase, the government’s contribution “would grow at a slower rate,” inflation, and the age of the enrollee. By 2030, under the proposal, the premium support would “only cover 32 percent of a typical 65-year-old’s total health care spending” and would decrease every subsequent year. PolitiFact concedes that this is, in fact, “a huge change to the current program.”  

But it’s more than that. Capping costs to beneficiaries, closing the traditional fee-for-service program, and forcing seniors to enroll in new private coverage, ends Medicare by eliminating everything that has defined the program for the last 46 years.

America Blog tells of Ryan's efforts to stuff the online ballot box:

It's pretty atrocious that Politifact is even letting people vote on this. Online votes aren't real votes. And for an organization that supposedly puts facts above whim, how can they honestly choose the "lie of the year" based on whether Dems or Republicans are able to get in more votes?... Here's GOP Congressman Paul Ryan's attempt to rig the vote, with an email to his PAC supporters:

From: Paul Ryan  

contact@prosperitypac.com

Date: December 7, 2011   

To: xxx   

Subject: Vote now - "Lie of the Year" 

Reply-To: Paul Ryan contact@prosperitypac.com

Dear xxxxx -  

I need your vote. Politifact, a non-partisan, fact-checking website, is now taking votes for the 2011 “Lie of the Year,” and one of the nominees is the Democrats’ “Pants on Fire” lie about Republicans voting to “end Medicare.”  

Click here to vote now and ensure the Democrats’ lies about the Path to Prosperity are exposed. Remember, our budget is the only plan that actually saves Medicare. We know the stakes are high in 2012 – it’s a chance to take our country back and get us back on a path to prosperity. We can’t let lies by Democrats about our conservative solutions go unchecked. 

Help me fight the lies, falsehoods, and attacks of the Left by casting a vote to show the Democrat’s lie that Republicans voted to “end Medicare” is the worst political lie of 2011. Click here to cast your vote now at Politifact.   

Thanks, Congressman Paul Ryan