The Health Care Showdown

Tonight the Republican Watchdogs are going to switch back into advertisement checking and focus on a new ad from Roy Blunt. This ad focuses on the different stance these two candidates have on the issue of health care.



The advertisement opens with a direct attack against Carnahan and states that “Carnahan supports $500 billion in Medicare cuts, hurting seniors most.” This claim has been focused on before by Blunt. The ad then builds off of this statement and goes on to say that “The Carnahan-Obama plan cuts Medicare to pay for government-run healthcare, and that’s wrong.”

In analyzing this attack on Carnahan, the ad seems to be nothing more than key phrases and misrepresentation. In Blunt’s defense, according to Politico, “The health care overhaul will result in increased out-of-pocket costs for seniors on Medicare Advantage plans.” A Press Zoom article explains that, “Robin Carnahan said she would have voted yes to Obamacare and supports the $500 billion in Medicare cuts to pay for it.”

In defense of Carnahan’s position, a Kansas City Star article explains that the health care law will reduce the federal budget deficit by $143 billion over the next 10 years. Also, according to Politifact, the supposed $500 billion in cuts are not actually cuts but are rather reductions in future spending. Finally, the ad fails to mention the benefits for seniors that come from the health care law. Politifact again explains that by 2020, Medicare will pay 75 percent of the total cost of prescription drug coverage. Clearly, Blunt’s ad is unfair when looking at Carnahan and her stance. What hurts Carnahan however is that according to the Press Zoom article, “71% of Missourians voted against Obamacare and government-run health care.” Clearly Carnahan is against the majority here with her stance on health care.

The advertisement closes by explaining that Blunt will strengthen Medicare and protect seniors. In fact checking this, Blunt is not being entirely truthful. According to the Kansas City Star, Blunt DOES support repeal of the law but has NOT said he opposes all cuts in the growth of Medicare. The Republican Watchdogs also have a problem with Blunt “strengthening Medicare.” According to Fired Up! Blunt gave a recent interview where he expressed some strong opinions against Medicare. Bunt explained that it would have been best if Medicare and Medicaid had never been created.

How will Blunt strengthen Medicare when he wishes it was never created? Clearly, his statements in this ad are not entirely accurate.

Overall, this ad is extremely misleading and is frustrating to the Republican Watchdogs. As this race intensifies, the smear ads will only get worse. However, we will always fight to protect the truth!