Not So Straight Talk On Medicare

John McCain said this during his speech at Carnegie-Mellon University of a popular government program:

But when we added the prescription drug benefit to Medicare, a new and costly entitlement, we included many people who are more than capable of purchasing their own medicine without assistance from taxpayers who struggle to purchase their own. People like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet don't need their prescriptions underwritten by taxpayers. Those who can afford to buy their own prescription drugs should be expected to do so. This reform alone will save billions of dollars that could be returned to taxpayers or put to better use.

Means-testing Medicare- a way of turning into a welfare program a successful government program so many Americans rely on. That would cut into the popularity of the program, which perhaps is the (unstated) point, and further diminish faith of the citizenry in the federal government. And that may be the larger goal- for if government is seen as completely ineffective, it is not a big leap to see the infallible private sector, and the party incapable or unwilling to question it, as deserving of blind, unquestioning loyalty.