Paul Krugman: The Plot Against Medicare

The New York Times
Friday 20 April 2007

The plot against Social Security failed: President Bush's attempt to privatize the system crashed and burned when the public realized what he was up to. But the plot against Medicare is faring better: the stealth privatization embedded in the Medicare Modernization Act, which Congress literally passed in the dead of night back in 2003, is proceeding apace.

Worse yet, the forces behind privatization not only continue to have the G.O.P. in their pocket, but they have also been finding useful idiots within the newly powerful Democratic coalition. And it's not just politicians with an eye on campaign contributions. There's no nice way to say it: the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens have become patsies for the insurance industry.