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Betsey McCaughey is at it again

Posted by: Erin Kelly on Oct 09, 2009

Betsey McCaughey is perhaps best known for contributing to the downfall of health reform in the early '90s. And since the health reform debate has heated up this year, she's back at it again, trying to scare seniors and any American who will listen to her preposterous lies.

The New Republic remarks,

Fifteen years later, she has reemerged for an encore, penning op-eds and making the TV and radio rounds to issue apocalyptic warnings about the horrors lurking in the fine print of Obamacare.

Betsey McCaughey is responsible for the ever-present "death panel" myth that conservatives and pundits consistently repeated throughout the August recess as if it were fact. Since then, she's gone from talk show to talk show; attempting to spread ridiculous lies like "health reform may lead to government-mandated euthanasia."

McCaughey appeared on MSNBC this week to talk about why she believes health reform is a bad thing. She not only continued to allege that the government plans to tell seniors how and when to die, she also said this:

The elephant in the room here is that all these bills are devastating care for seniors and the Baucus bill is the deadliest of all!

Rep. Weiner from New York challenged McCaughey by asking her what solutions she has for fixing America's health care crisis. Her response is about as ridiculous as her elaborate myths. She suggested,

inching up the eligibility age [for Medicare] one month a year until 2043 when the eligibility age reaches 70. That could put Medicare on a firm footing without cutting care for Medicare recipients.

Yes, that's right. Betsey McCaughey, who has repeatedly said the proposed legislation is devastating to seniors, is advocating moving the Medicare eligibility age. Rep. Weiner estimated that this would cut as many as 11.3 million seniors from Medicare. Talk about devastating!

Older Americans are already having a tough time finding insurance in the private individual market. Now McCaughey wants to move the Medicare eligibility age even higher?

It's time Betsey McCaughey gave up the scare tactics and instead helped brainstorm productive solutions that will provide every American with stability. Enough is enough.