WashPost Fact Check: Wasserman Schultz 'Scaremongering' on Ryan Plan

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s claims that the GOP plan to remake Medicare would throw seniors “to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage” are bogus, The Washington Post concluded in a fact check of the assertion.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz "is jumping to conclusions — not to mention scaremongering metaphors" about the GOP plan, The Washington Post's fact checker says. (Getty Images Photo)

In reviewing the Democratic National Committee chairwoman’s claims, the Post noted that “something about the debate over Medicare prompts eye-popping rhetoric.” In recent weeks, the Post fact checker has called into question claims from both sides of the aisle for exaggerations and falsehoods.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office examined the Republican plan and found that the rules that would govern the Medicare exchange include those “requiring insurers to issue insurance to all people eligible for Medicare who apply, requiring that each insurer charges the same premium for all enrollees of the same age, and using a risk-adjustment mechanism.”

Michael Cannon, health policy director at the libertarian Cato Institute, told the Post that Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan “says that insurance companies could not turn away seniors.”

“One can certainly raise serious questions about whether the Republican plan is adequately funded and, over time, would shift too much of the financial burden to beneficiaries . . . But Wasserman Schultz is jumping to conclusions — not to mention scaremongering metaphors — to describe provisions in the GOP Medicare plan that just do not exist,” the Post concluded.