stethoscope and pen resting on a sheet of medical lab test results, with patient file and x-ray or mri film

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) They're throwing granny off a cliff!

That's the not-so-subtle message Republicans and Democrats appear to be converging on for political ads on health care this year, featuring heavy doses of what each party alleges the other one plans to do to wreck Medicare.

From cost controls in President Barack Obama's health care law to GOP Rep. Paul Ryan's privatization plan for future Medicare recipients, there's something about health care that makes it a breeding ground for the wildest allegations.

[Photo Gallery: Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.]

Families feel vulnerable to the catastrophic costs of serious illness, and few understand the labyrinth of private and government insurance, allowing partisans to play to their worst fears. Add to that the belief among political pros that health care worries can drive the votes of seniors.

"It is easy to deceive on the issue because the knowledge base of the electorate when it comes to the complexities of health care is relatively low," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert on political communication at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Center.

It would be hard to top Sarah Palin's now-debunked assertion that "death panels" lurked in the recesses of Obama's law, but don't be surprised if that happens this year.

"Many people believe crazy things about health care because they want to believe them," said Drew Altman, president of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. Some of today's outlandish claims remind him of fears about fluoridated drinking water in the 1950s.

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Political Ads Stir Health Care Horror