New Old Myths About Obamacare

CORE MESSAGE

Obamacare saves us money. To claim otherwise, Republicans would have to finally admit that they've been planning to kill Medicare.

Connect: Let's cut through the smoke and mirrors.

Define: The non-partisan authorities agree that Obamacare reduces the debt and keeps our promise to seniors by strengthening Medicare.

Contrast: The new GOP study claiming Obamacare adds to the debt is true only if Congress breaks America's promise and slashes Medicare, so all the costs of keeping our promise can be added to Obamacare.

Expose: Republican donors paid for this study so they could say in their attack ads that Obamacare increases the debt. Sure, if you use rules different from everyone else's, you can get whatever result you want.

Discredit: Republicans have talked about gutting Medicare. The assumptions they make in their latest attack show they not only want to gut it but expect to end it -- even if they haven't admitted it yet.

Affirm: In America, we keep our promises to provide retirees the Medicare they've paid for. Obamacare does just that - and strengthens Medicare and lowers our deficit to boot. 

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ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

ATTACK: "There's a new report from the Mercatus Center saying Obamacare increases the deficit."
RESPONSE:

• Republicans would have to finally admit that they've been planning to kill Medicare to make this false claim about Obamacare true.
• Nothing's changed: Obamacare lowers the deficit -- take it from the experts required by law to be nonpartisan, independent, and objective. It's simple math: there's less money going out than the money flowing in. That's what deficit reduction looks like.
• In contrast, this report was bought and paid for by corporate special interests so the GOP politicians they fund can use it in their hundreds of millions of dollars of negative attack ads against Obama.
• Republican politicians have some nerve talking about the deficit when they fought for the massive tax giveaways that exploded the deficit and left us the mess we're still dealing with today.

ATTACK: "Obama is double counting the Medicare savings to make Obamacare look fiscally responsible."
RESPONSE:

• Actually, Obamacare enables Medicare to use its funding more efficiently, which extends the life of the Medicare trust fund. And because Medicare is part of the overall budget, those savings lower the budget deficit -- without double counting anything.
• That's no different than when a baseball player hits a home run: it adds to his team's score and also improves his batting average. Neither situation involves double counting.
• Obamacare saves us money. The new GOP study claiming Obamacare adds to the debt is true only if Congress breaks America's promise and slashes Medicare, so all the costs of keeping our promise can be added to Obamacare.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The Affordable Care Act enables Medicare to use its funding more efficiently and for us to get more value for our Medicare dollars, which extends the life of the Medicare trust fund. And because Medicare is part of the overall budget, those savings help offset the new benefits of the health care law while reducing the budget deficit -- without double counting anything.
• As the Director of the Congressional Budget Office has repeatedly pointed out, the CBO does not double count anything when it provides cost estimates of legislation.
• And as the CBO recently updated, the Affordable Care Act cuts the deficit by $50 billion more than the deficit-cutting amount it had originally estimated.
• That is why repealing Obamacare wouldn't just cost American families -- repealing Obamacare will also make the deficit WORSE.
• Here's the GOP record on deficits: Republicans squandered the $6 trillion Clinton budget surplus, doubled the national debt before handing it off to Obama, and fought for the wasteful Bush tax giveaways behind today's record deficits.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.