Jim Gerlach Against Medicare?

Here is an excerpt of an email from my Congressman, Jim Gerlach (R-PA) regarding an email about health care reform that I had sent to him:

The Democratic Leadership in the House of Representatives has put forth a health care reform proposal in the form of a 1,107-page bill, H.R. 3200. I do not support this bill as it is currently written. We cannot afford its massive tax and spending increases in this time of recession. This bill also contains a "public option plan," in other words, a health care plan that is controlled and run by the government. I do not believe that bureaucrats should be making health care decisions for our citizens, or controlling the medical decision-making process in a way that will delay or deny services for you or your family. It is not the proper role for the government to be telling Americans what doctors they can see, how many x-rays they can get in a year, or what prescriptions they can take. I believe it's imperative to preserve the sacred doctor-patient relationship and prevent the government from interfering in those decisions.

Besides the flat out lies that the government would tell you "how many x-rays [you] can get in a year", does he not think that government has any place in the medical insurance business? Maybe he is opposed to a little program called Medicare. Since he is running for governor of the state with the second oldest population in the nation, maybe he shouldn't position himself against the wildly popular government run insurance program.

And since when have Republicans been such staunch defenders of medicare? Well, since the current health care debate started!