John Mattison and Valerie Mullin, Republican candidates for the House, sent out a last-minute mailing to voters this weekend that accuses Democrats of attempting to “take over your Medicare.”
The mailing is targeted at Democratic Reps. Herb Russell, Dave Sharpe and Mike Fisher.
Mattison is vying with Russell for a Rutland City seat, and Mullin is in a hotly contested race with Fisher, chair of the House Health Care Committee, and Sharpe, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for tax policy. Republican Fred Baser is also running for the Addison-4 seat.
The very same postcards were also used by Rep. Doug Gage, R-Rutland City, in a mailing that targeted Sherri Durgin-Campbell, a Democrat, and in Rutland-Bennington they were sent by Valerie Leigh Harris, a Republican, who is running against Robin Chesnut-Tangerman, a Progressive/Democrat, according to Liz Kyriacou, the director of the Vermont Democratic House Campaign.
Republicans are hoping to pick up seats in a handful of House districts, along with seats for the Senate in conservative pockets of the state.
The identical mailer, which was paid for by the candidates themselves, claims that Gov. Peter Shumlin and Reps. Herb Russell, Mike Fisher and Dave Sharpe want to “take your Medicare benefits for their single payer Vermont government takeover of health insurance including your Medicare supplemental plan. You could lose your doctor and be denied care.”
The Democrats have said they will not use Medicare to help fund Shumlin’s single-payer initiative. While intent language in Act 48, the 2011 legislative framework for health care reform, mentions state administration of Medicare funds, the state cannot handle claims or provider reimbursements. Vermont is part of a regional Medicare administration system.
Nevertheless, the flier from Mullin urges voters to tell Mike Fisher and Dave Sharpe “hands off my Medicare.”
Fisher says while the misinformation from his opponent is a disappointment, he half-expected it.
“I’ve been in this business long enough to know there will be an attack ad in the final days,” Fisher says. “They can’t help themselves. No matter how positive the campaign is, they always do that. Either they don’t understand or they do and have chosen to print it. Promoting fear as a way of trying to get elected is always upsetting.”
Mullin said she does not consider the fliers to be a scare tactic and believes Shumlin’s intention is to take over Medicare.
“It is scary, I agree that it’s scary that Medicare is going to be shifted from a federal program to a state program if the governor has his way,” she said Monday.
As evidence, Mullin points to a section of Act 48 that was never written into statute — but remains law — directing the administration to seek direct payments from Medicare to its single-payer program, provided it can obtain federal approval. Administration officials have said the feds won’t allow that.
Mullin’s other evidence, as reflected on the flier, is a Nov. 2013 video of Shumlin speaking to the Physicians for a National Health Plan, a group that supports a national single-payer program, in which he tells a questioner that he agrees it’s unlikely, but he will try and make Medicare part of single-payer.
Language directing the state to administer Medicare, meaning processing and paying claims on the feds behalf, was repealed this year by the Legislature, and Shumlin’s top health care officials say they are no longer seeking direct Medicare payments or to administer the program.
Rep. Willem Jewett, D-Ripton, the House majority leader, says Medicare is a marquee Democratic initiative that the party has had to defend time and time again. “The concept that Democrats are going to do something to jeopardize Medicare is hard to fathom,” Jewett says.
The Democratic Party accuses Mattison and Mullin of “flat out lying to Vermont voters.”
Ben Sarle, the spokesman for the party, says the national Republican Party used the same tactic in 2010 when Obamacare passed.
“It seems that their go-to tactic is to scare and mislead instead of engage in honest debate,” Sarle said in a statement. “No one should be surprised that the Tea Party rhetoric that dominates the national GOP has become standard for the VTGOP. If Republican candidates care to engage in a real conversation in our state, they should disavow and publicly condemn these mailings. If not, Vermonters should hold them accountable for their personal endorsement of these lies.”
Editor’s note: VTDigger reporter Morgan True contributed to this report, which was updated at 3:30 p.m. Monday. Efforts to reach Valerie Mullin on Sunday were unsuccessful but VTDigger spoke with Mullin on Monday.
CORRECTION: Rep. Carolyn Branagan is the vice chair of House Ways and Means, not Dave Sharpe, as originally reported.
