Senior citizens nervous about health care reform

An article published today by Politico, shows that Democrats pushing health care legislation have run into a stumbling block amongst older voters, who as recent polling shows are the group that is most skeptical on reform.

Much of the early health care reform arguments have been focused on lowering costs for middle class Americans who currently have health care through their job, and covering the nearly 50 million Americans who are uninsured. Many seniors feel that their medicare benefits may be threatened and grow nervous when they hear phrases like ". . .cutting $300 Billion from Medicare." This raises warning bells for the Democratic leadership, and especially for the White House, because if they can't get seniors on board, then their efforts to pass sweeping health care legislation, much like President Bush's failed efforts to reform social security in 2005, may be for naught.

One reason seniors are, albeit belatedly, being given so much attention is because of how high their voting rolls are, and could pose yet another problem to Democrats hoping to maintain their congressional majorities in next years midterm elections. Also, the majority of the shouting and chaos going on at many of the contentious town halls across America are coming from frustrated and angry older Americans that are upset that they've contributed to medicare for their entire working lives and that the benefits they believe they've earned may now be threatened, despite continuous urging from both Democratic congressional leadership and the white house that current reform efforts would not limit their range of care and that the proposed "cuts" to Medicare come from eliminating wasteful programs and curbing administration costs.

Senior citizens are going to be the linchpin to whether the message war on health care is effective for either side. So far, labor groups and progressive leaders have pushed a simple "reform medicare now so it's not insolvent later" message that could be powerful if it sticks, but I think first they have to explain what they really mean by "reform," in terms that put older voters at ease, only then will this contentious issue be laid to rest.