Noted: This is precisely what happened to the catastrophic-insurance program that a Democratic Congress and President Ronald Reagan added to Medicare 1988. Opponents in both parties succeeded in repealing the program within 18 months, as older Americans who hadn?t yet warmed to the entitlement railed against the higher costs. ?There?s a case where the window was open, and the opposition slammed it shut,? says Byron Shafer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin.
Office of Strategic Communication