Seniors are not safe over the GOP's Medicare plan
Posted on Tuesday, June 07, 2011 at 10:06 AM
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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?
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READ MORE:
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Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" will revamp Medicare and Medicaid - VIDEOS
Governor Signs Drug Test for Welfare Law
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46 comments
olovely | Jun 07, 2011, 09:31 PM EDT
It's immoral for the rich to draft legislation to cheat the poor. The Obamacare enjoyed by the House GOP is working out very well for them. The GOP started two endless wars and gave historic cut taxes to the superrich, whilst baling out Wall Street and now they want the poor to pay for the party? I don't think so.
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Philaromancatho | Jun 07, 2011, 08:11 PM EDT
Sorry, guys. I have never worked for any insurance company, but every time my husband has needed his medical insurance (4 times in the last 4 years) it have been there for him including Medicare Advantage. And why wouldn't insurance companies support the chamber of commerce? Insurance companies employ tens of thousands of people and sell moe than just medical insurance like life insurance, fire and flood insurance, long term disability insurance, car insurance, home owners insurance, etc., etc., etc. And, yes, euthanasia already exist in Europe. Sister and Brother in law under Kaiser never been denied a damn thing and have huge and serious medical conditions.
But I do fear being forced into Obamacare or government Medicare. It frightens me to death. Oh that's right that is exactly what Obama want me to do. Die as quickly as possible to save his system $$$$$$. And, yes, there is a board about to be appointed that will tell doctors and hospitals what they are allowed to do. Your doctor's expertise will not count, innovation will be extremely curtailed, and people will not operations they need. By the way,answer me this, why does obabacare specifically tax medical devices? I have a son with juvenile diabetes and he needs two of those devices every fourth day for his pump to work. Why is he being penalized for his health condition by Obamacare? Why has his medical device company already fired a slew of employees in order to defray the additional costs? Do you think the price of those devices are going to go up or down? Does he then have to go back to 5 needles a day to afford his lifelong medical situation? So much for new medical innovations being used and affordable under Obama who by the way tried to move abortion into infanticide when he was an Illinois state senator - all of which is true and can be googled. So who wouldn't believe that euthanasia was his game plan - he has said as much!
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clancy4unc | Jun 07, 2011, 08:03 PM EDT
Cahir, Cahir, Cahir, you sad, sad soul. If you want to look at governemnt run healthcare, look no further than the Veterans Administration. Absolute chaos, with the slogan, "delay, deny, and hope they'll die". Isn't it odd that the government run prorams are totally screwed up, while the free market programs offer the best service in this world. Government is never the answer. They are only in it to stuff their pockets, while making laws to better themselves, and all the while trying to tax each and every breath we take. Big Governemnt = BAD.
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jamthecat | Jun 07, 2011, 07:47 PM EDT
Philaromancatho -- insurance companies already do that. You want to talk about death panels? Try getting an insurance company that's revoked your coverage because you didn't tell them you had a hangnail when you were 5 years old to pay for an operation you need. There is only one truth here -- the GOP and Tea Partiers are lying about Medicare. Period. And Paul Ryan in their front man. They've been called out on it by any number of people who actually KNOW what they're talking about, who've actually READ Ryan's disgraceful proposal. Here's one of them, Paul Krugman -- "...Which brings me to one last point: it’s really time to stop pretending that the Ryan plan is an intellectually sound expression of a philosophical viewpoint. Even from its own ideological perspective, it’s a piece of incompetent junk; all you had to do was spend a little while poking through the assumptions, and it became clear that it was nonsense. I know this is a hard thing for people who gushed about the plan to accept, but it’s the simple truth." So as much as you may hate it the reality is, the facts have a liberal bias. And no amount of lying and exaggerating and screaming like a bunch of spoiled brats will obscure that.
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McNamara31 | Jun 07, 2011, 07:17 PM EDT
Philaromancatho….. Laughable? Your response is full of every pro insurance lobby smear tactic that I hope in reality you haven’t fallen for. In 2009 alone,(reported by Bloomberg) health insurers gave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce $86.2 million that was used to kill health-care. (Why?) The odds of you being denied coverage, or you going bankrupt in America because of lack of healthcare, is much more of a “real “certainty than your Fox cartoon for “death panels".
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PatriciaMarya | Jun 07, 2011, 06:51 PM EDT
Plilaromancatho - what planet are you from? Boards? The way the money is being saved is by going after the Medicare Advantage programs that are basically gifts to the investor-driven health insurance companies because they spend more on administrative costs than they do on medical care! My Doctors will not accept any Medicare Advantage programs for just that reason! When I call for a colonoscopy or podiatrist, etc., the first question they ask me are you in a Medicare Advantage program because we do not accept them.
Plan D was created by the Republicans in 2005 after Humana, a for-profit health insurance company whose claims department is an outsourced collection agency was given a lucrative contract to go inside CMS (Centers for Medicare Services) and out of that came this out and out gift to Big Pharma that now carries a $310 deductable!! It was never ever funded, just enacted - taking Rx coverage away from Medicare and giving it to all of these private carriers. Oh by the way, Humana is located in Kentucky and is one of Mitch McConnell's biggest donors. Get it. As someone who has an IQ of 147 and is 71 years old, I can give you chapter and verse on how Plan D works against U.S. seniors; too bad that there are older and more frail seniors who can't fight back. What you are referring to is what is happening with HMOs and Medicare Advantage programs before Obama Cares. Do your homework, check your facts and ask the people involved and then make your opinions, not before.
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Philaromancatho | Jun 07, 2011, 06:36 PM EDT
When you are old, sick and frail just imagine running to Obamacare's board and begging for an operation the board has deemed you are too old for and the government has predetermined costs too much for someone your age, even though your doctor says he can save you. Now imagine there is a life saving device out there that your doctor says will work for you, but the government board has made a deal with a competing and politcally motivated manufacturer whose device/medicine is not as good and tells you that you cannot have it, nor can you buy it on your own. Welcome to Communist Obamacare. Better device/medication company goes out of business.
Now let's have some truth here. O'Doherty's bent and politics are so apparent in this article here it is laughable. He leaves out that Obamacare has already cut a half a trillion dollars out of Medicare, that Obama has said his board would LIMIT care at both ends of life based on age and cost. The end limits start at 55. This is nothing more that institutionalizing euthanasia through our hospitals. This is already a major problem in Europe. O'Doherty obviously is a socialist. This article is so slanted, so devoid of the facts.
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EphraimKibbey | Jun 07, 2011, 05:58 PM EDT
Why do the GOP politicians think that seniors are as self-centered as they are? Most seniors have children and grandchildren. Are they expected to think that, since they only lose their donut hole coverage while their offspring are thrown to the mercy of the Insurance companies, the Ryan plan is worth ever voting for a republican again. They fooled America with the "we can create jobs" line last time but I doubt Americans will be fooled again. The solution lies in a return to the Clinton era tax brackets plus a surplus tax on millionaires to retrieve what they didn't pay on the money they made off wall street while they were distroying the economy for everyone else. Medicare should gradually be granted to everyone by lowering the starting age as we gradually phase out Health Insurance companies. The government should buy the drugs at a discount as is done in other countries and set hospital and doctors fees. And politicians should be on the same program that the rest of us have.
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hollabackgurl | Jun 07, 2011, 05:51 PM EDT
It's not just bad policy, it's IMMORAL to throw America's seniors on the scrap heap.
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jamthecat | Jun 07, 2011, 05:21 PM EDT
Allentown, why is it every survey taken of Canadians about their healthcare system shows the vast, vast, vast majority like it? Why is it the man who developed and helped pass the healthcare system in Canada is considered one of the most important Canadians ever...BY Canadians? Why is it so many Americans go to Canadian pharmacies to buy their prescriptions? Why is it Americans who live in the southern border states go into Mexico for dental care? And last but not least, how does your question refute anything I said in my initial post?
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TheOldPerfessor | Jun 07, 2011, 05:02 PM EDT
I totally applaud the pure ideals of my right wing brethren in their concern about government spending. Please drop me a line if you are so against government run health care that you opt out of Medicare (You know, Socialized Medicine like every other country has). Extra points if you also opt out of Social Security. Until then, I applaud you.
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McNamara31 | Jun 07, 2011, 03:43 PM EDT
seanaci... The truly sad fact about Mr. Ryan is, when he was young, and his father passed away, the Ryan family "benefited" from Social Security to tide them over. Mr. Ryan is said to have saved the social security money and used it to pay for college where he was educated and entered the world of marketing, and then onto government where he is covered by health care plan so wonderful, no other American could afford it today. Instead of Mr. Ryan looking for ways to preserve what is great about America, he is peddling a plan that would make America look much more like a "third world country" than the country his own father grew up in.
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seanaci | Jun 07, 2011, 02:33 PM EDT
McNamara31, you may be closer to the mark than you think!
In Cecil Woodham-Smith’s excellently researched book “The Great Hunger”, there is a reproduction of a picture of Charles Edward Trevelyan that could be Paul Ryan’s twin. They both have the nanny-scrubbed spaniel-eyed innocence that belies their shared flint-hearted ideologies.
Woodham-Smith summarized the position as follows:-"Much of This obtuseness sprang from the fanatical faith of mid-19th-century British politicians in the economic doctrine of laissez-faire, no interference by government, no meddling with the operations of natural causes. Adherence to laissez-faire was carried to such length that in the midst of one of the major famines of history, the government was perpetually nervous of being too good to Ireland and of corrupting the Irish people by kindness, and so stifling the virtues of self-reliance and industry."
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hollabackgurl | Jun 07, 2011, 02:20 PM EDT
Here's a useful rule of thumb: if conservative men in blue blazers are selling exciting new reforms regarding your health care you need to realize it's probably about to get chopped.
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