WASHINGTON - 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.

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.

Sound far-fetched? It's already started.

A few months ago, former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum lent credence to an unfounded rumor that the Obama administration would deny advanced medical treatment to stroke patients over the age of 70, allowing only comfort care. It didn't seem to matter that two doctors' groups and the Health and Human Services Department were shooting down the rumor.

And as for throwing granny off a cliff, two political ads are already depicting just that , one from the left and one from the right. Both dramatizations are getting steady attention on the Internet.

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SPIN METER: Political ads stir health care horror