NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > Entertainment blogs > Manhattan Diary > Seniors are not safe over the GOP's Medicare plan

Manhattan Diary by Cahir O'Doherty

Seniors are not safe over the GOP's Medicare plan

Posted on Tuesday, June 07, 2011 at 10:06 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

46 Comments

RSS

Archives

Take heart seniors, there's one group of people who definitely won't be affected if Republican leaders eventually succeed in raising the cost of prescription drugs and long term care by gutting Medicare: our Republican leaders themselves.

They'll still have their top-notch Congressional health care plans, which by the way we pay for. They will also continue to do astoundingly well by the corporate health care lobbyists who are salivating at the prospect of raising prescription costs once again.

The same GOP who decade after decade warn us about the evils of socialism enjoy a level of subsidized health care that would have been the envy of the top tier of the Kremlin.

So before we get very excited about the drastic changes that Paul Ryan and the House Budget Committee are seeking it would make sense to thoroughly vet their voting records, their bill participations, and their campaign donors.

Would you be surprised to know that health care and insurance companies figure among Ryan's top five political contributors? (Source: OpenSecrets.org).

It's absurd to seek the biggest cuts to health care in generations and promise that no senior over 55 will suffer. Of course they will. They'll be exposed like never before to skyrocketing medical costs.

But Ryan is a fierce opponent of any suggestion of higher taxes. Instead he plans to reduce the deficit by 'reforming' Medicare. This will, he says: 'Give seniors a voucher for private health insurance that grows at a much smaller rate than actual healthcare costs.'

What that means is that medical costs keep growing over time, and elderly Americans will be forced to bear more and more of the price burden. And what happens if they can’t afford to do so? Too bad, they’re on their own.

Each time the GOP had to decide between preserving the safety net or making the rich richer, is anybody surprised that the rich always win?
------------------
READ MORE:
Congress told "Hands off our Medicare!"

Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" will revamp Medicare and Medicaid - VIDEOS

Governor Signs Drug Test for Welfare Law
------------------

E-mail

46 comments

Next Page 1 of 4 pages

maloney | Jun 10, 2011, 01:28 PM EDT

Yes, over 55, proud of my country and ashamed of it's Potus.

Report abuse

McNamara31 | Jun 09, 2011, 09:42 PM EDT

maloney ...You must be over 55

Report abuse

maloney | Jun 09, 2011, 07:48 PM EDT

Seniors have nothing to fear from the GOP. They do need to fear the 1/2 a trillion dollars obama stole from Medicare. Who knows how much more money obama is stealing from the tax payers with war #4 in Yemen!!! Peace loving man that he is. They need to fear their social security checks not being in the mail. Seniors will be the first obama cuts off when the well runs dry and he stops printing money. The veterans benefits and pensions will be close behind.

Report abuse

hancock | Jun 09, 2011, 07:36 PM EDT

We are going broke, the only difference is the super rich will sail away, and the middle class will implode.

Report abuse

olovely | Jun 09, 2011, 02:16 PM EDT

This country will NOT go broke. Our super rich have never had it so good. Our coporations are booming. Wall Street are awarding thermselves record bonuses. Our multimillionaires are buying yachts. It's the ordinary citizens who are being squeezed and squeezed for ever last dime who are going broke.

Report abuse

hancock | Jun 08, 2011, 11:38 PM EDT

Nobody will pay, this country will go broke. You morons will still be arguing.

Report abuse

hollabackgurl | Jun 08, 2011, 07:30 PM EDT

The GOP are indulging in repulsive class war against the poor. It's IMMORAL to cheat the poor of health services to pay for tax cuts for the rich and ill-advised wars.

Report abuse

eiriamach | Jun 08, 2011, 04:44 PM EDT

Remember, seniors are the demographic group most likely to vote and-- judging from the AARP and other campaigns-- least likely to throw their children and grandchildren under the bus. Medicare, fairly funded and with cost-containment measures, for all!

Report abuse

McNamara31 | Jun 08, 2011, 04:25 PM EDT

John5319...First, why do you go to “such extremes” to cast dispersions about the President? The quote that you have misrepresented as being from the writers of Pravda, was in truth written, and is just the opinion, of a Russian blogger, similar to the way you blog here at IC. The bloggers name is Mat Rodina. Again don't believe Google it for yourself.

Report abuse

allentown | Jun 08, 2011, 01:47 PM EDT

McNamara31, thank you for your reply. Most of us are a combination of Democrat and Republican. That is why the Republicans and the Democratic congressmen debate plans, issues and ammendments to arrive at what is best for the American people. How can the Republicans debate the Democrats when the Democrats have offered no plan on saving Medicare. You are correct when you say Medicare will change for people under 55. CNN evaluated the Ryan proposal and said: " it isn't perfect, but it's the best choice in a world of poor alternatives." You are also right when you say the Ryan plan will lower corporate taxes from 35% to 25%. However, you are only telling part of the story, because the Ryan plan will eliminate corporate subsidies, a Democratic idea. We know the Obama economic plan has failed for creating jobs and without Bernanke pumping an additional QE2 of 600 billion dollars into the financial market, we could be on the brink of a second recession. Obama is now actually joining the Republican idea of lowering corporate taxes to make us more competitive in the world economy. As my original post stated, the Democrats have to offer their plan to save Medicare and debate the Republican Ryan plan. However, for now they are only showing a cartoon video of Ryan pushing Grandma over the cliff.

Report abuse

John5319 | Jun 08, 2011, 12:13 PM EDT

On April 27, 2009 ... Pravda, the Communist Russian new outlet said this: "the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple,..". Furthermore it said "The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but IN THE WORLD. If this keeps up for more than another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe." Nice try to deflect from the real issue...Government spending !! And so it is the redistributive Democrats who still try to spew this "class warfare" of the elite political ruling class, and represent Cloward-Piven's economic policy of "overwhelm the system" with borrowed debt. Socialism fails when it runs out of other peoples money.

Report abuse

McNamara31 | Jun 08, 2011, 08:26 AM EDT

allentown... There is little to be confused here and people have to realize just what is coming at them. The Ryan Plan will “end” Medicare as it was created and as we know it for those under 55. It will be replaced with a voucher (of some value) that you will have to take each year to attempt to purchase health insurance. The amount that the voucher does not cover will have to be provided by the individual. The Ryan Plan will attempt to eliminate Medicare while cutting the top tax rate for the wealthiest from 35% to 25%.Tell me one issue in what I have stated that is incorrect? The GOP is hoping for two things: the support from the people who fall into that top tax bracket, and the ability of those over 55 to throw their children and grandchildren under the bus.

Report abuse

hancock | Jun 08, 2011, 12:31 AM EDT

Nobody will pay.

Report abuse

Philaromancatho | Jun 07, 2011, 11:41 PM EDT

Sorry, olovely, the tax cuts were across the board. And by the way politics of envy are equal to individuals who practice envy - evil, sinful and wrong. Persons like Alexander Bell, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, G. Westinghouse, and a whole host of inventors and their companies have done more to alleviate poverty in this country than any government agency or president. Isn't it interesting that the practice of monopoly and price fixing and colusion held illegal for companies and rightly so as an antitheist to free markets and true price is exactly what Obamacare will practice. How come all government employees are exempted from Obamacare and are allowed to choose from a variety of PRIVATE INSURANCE plans? How come there is a growing list of more than 100 organizations like the unions exempted from Obamacare? Who decides and why? Politics? I do believe the Ryan plan allows for the same choices as government employees and saves our country from bankruptcy as well. Even Clinton wants to hear his plan and work with it. But not Obama because his plan is not about healthcare but about Marxist power. Thank God for the brilliant Irish practicing Roman Catholic Ryan. He learned his Christianity well! gives us those same choices.

Report abuse

allentown | Jun 07, 2011, 10:58 PM EDT

McNamara 31, you obviously have not read the Ryan Plan and made up your mind after watching Grandma being pushed over the cliff. Hopefully, you will progress beyond Grandma going over the cliff and read the Ryan Plan.

Report abuse

Next Page 1 of 4 pages