On Oct. 11, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., authored a commentary defending his opposition to current health care reform legislation. Ryan establishes his opposition by claiming that "drastic cuts to Medicare Advantage plans would devastate seniors enrolled in these plans." This assertion is questionable at best, and certainly an ironic role reversal given GOP actions of the recent past.

As recently as April, four-fifths of House Republicans - including Ryan - voted to end the Medicare program as we know it for Americans 55 and younger. According to the National Journal: "They cast that vote on April 2 in support of a GOP alternative budget plan that would have converted Medicare from a program that guarantees seniors all necessary access to care into a voucher system that provides future retirees only a fixed sum of money to purchase private health insurance." In Rep. Ryan's proposal " ... new retirees would not even have the option of buying into traditional fee-for-service Medicare once the voucher system is implemented." John Rother, Vice President for Policy at AARP called the Ryan plan "a very dangerous idea." Furthermore, Rother said, "Converting Medicare into a voucher would increase costs for all beneficiaries and over time force less-affluent seniors to accept lower-quality care."

It is also ironic that Ryan and his Republican colleagues have chosen Medicare Advantage as a rallying point for dispensing falsehoods and distortions about health care reform. In 2003, Republicans joined forces to create Medicare Advantage as an upgrade to Medicare by allowing private insurers to compete with government plans for seniors. Medicare gave them the money it would have spent and let private insurers try do a better job. Except they didn't, in fact, they failed. Prices shot up and Republicans funneled in more money to increase reimbursement rates. Today, Medicare Advantage pays private plans 114 percent of the cost Medicare would have paid, with cost projections continuing to rise. Overpayments resulted in $3.36 billion in profits for private insurers in 2006 alone, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This free market experiment has not yielded the innovations promised and the only "advantage" has been for private insurance companies and not the American people.

Current health care legislation which Rep. Ryan opposes is designed to cut the waste and overpayments in Medicare Advantage, but not benefits. Any argument against such action is really an argument in favor of waste and abuse.

The America's Affordable Health Care Choices Act being considered today is committed to protecting and strengthening Medicare for America's seniors. It doesn't use a dime of the Medicare trust fund to pay for reform. Instead, it eliminates waste to strengthen the financial health of the program. The AAHCCA enhances quality and affordability particularly for seniors by filling the "doughnut hole" in Medicare Part D (prescription drug benefit). AAHCCA will eliminate any deductible, co-payments and cost sharing for preventive services in Medicare and Medicare Advantage. AAHCCA improves low-income subsidy programs in Medicare; it improves the delivery and coordination of services for people dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, enhances nursing home transparency and accountability requirements and makes long-term care more affordable.

The America's Affordable Health Care Choices Act extends Medicare program solvency by improving payment accuracy to ensure that the right amount is paid, expands funding and authority to fight waste, fraud and abuse and eliminates overpayments to private plans.

When Rep. Ryan argues against health care reform by telling you that it will cut Medicare benefits for seniors, all one has to do is look at his record. The current system is unsustainable and he helped create it. During Republican control of Congress, health insurance premiums in Wisconsin increased 108 percent from 1999 to 2009 while wage earnings increased only 30 percent. In speaking about his failure to act on health care just last week, Ryan said "We should have fixed this under our watch and I'm frustrated we didn't." Because of this inaction: 14,000 Americans lost their health insurance today and another 14,000 will tomorrow. About 122 Americans died today because they had no insurance and the same number will die tomorrow. Every 30 seconds today an American will file for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious illness. Ryan had years to fix our broken system; he failed. Democrats will protect the promise they made to American seniors with Medicare 40 years ago and pass real health care reform. The time is now.

To get more information about the America's Affordable Health Care Choices Act and how legislation will affect senior citizens, go to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site at: http://www.healthreform.gov

or the Kaiser Family Foundation at: http://www.healthreform.kkf.org

Kelly Gallaher is a member and coordinator for Community for Change in Racine and a volunteer organizer for Organizing for America in the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin.