46 Comments

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

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

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

  maloney ...You must be over 55

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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

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

• 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.

• 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!

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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

  Nobody will pay.

• 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.

• 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.

• allentown | Jun 07, 2011, 10:51 PM EDT

  Jamthecat, you answered my statement with questions. Now, I ask why did the Seattle Times write in February 2007: "If you want to sell Americans on universal health coverage, it's not helpful to use a model that makes patients wait five weeks to see a cancer doctor. That's Canada."

• 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.

• 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!

• 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.

• 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.

• 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".

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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?

• 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.

• 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.

• 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."

• 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.

• hancock | Jun 07, 2011, 02:15 PM EDT

  How will Medicare and socialized meds be paid for?

• McNamara31 | Jun 07, 2011, 12:35 PM EDT

  allentown... When you are old, sick and frail, just imagine running around with your government voucher (Ryan Plan) each year, trying to get insurance with the pre existing conditions that naturally come with old age and that the insurance companies deny. Then imagine being old, sick, and frail and trying to pay the portion the voucher doesn't cover. Next Mr. Ryan will be having a plan to reopen the "alms houses" of yesteryear, to deal with the people made broken and homeless by the Ryan Plan.

• jdi2269 | Jun 07, 2011, 12:27 PM EDT

  CAHIR, YOU ARE NUTS! IS IT TRUE YOUR BUDDY WEINER IS CLAIMING IRISH ROOTS ALSO?

• allentown | Jun 07, 2011, 11:59 AM EDT

  Jamthecat, that is why the hospitals in Thailand and India are filled with Canadians seeking relief of pain and suffering.

• jamthecat | Jun 07, 2011, 11:47 AM EDT

  Ryan's helathcare proposal is a lie. Period. It does nothing to contain health care costs and ends Medicare. Period. It is a giveaway to health insurance companies. Period. Canada has a healthcare system they call Medicare that is very similar to ours but is for everyone and it works just fine. 98% of Canadians like it, 75% of doctors like it and it costs nearly 40% less per patient for care than in the US. Anyone who says otherwise, or that Ryan's health care propsal is serious or meaningful or will work is lying both to us and themselves. Tell the GOP to stop trying to destroy Medicare and Social Security.

• allentown | Jun 07, 2011, 11:35 AM EDT

  The Ryan plan for Medicare was the Republican proposal that was supposed to be debated by Congress with the Democratic proposal. However, instead of offering their solution to Medicare costs containment, the Democrats offer cartoons. However, alas all is not lost for the Republicans, because Anthony Weiner has come to our assistence.

• baileyBD | Jun 07, 2011, 11:29 AM EDT

  Stop the villification of the "greedy rich"! Who do you think employes the rest of us!?!

• baileyBD | Jun 07, 2011, 11:28 AM EDT

  the

• baileyBD | Jun 07, 2011, 11:28 AM EDT

  Stop

• baileyBD | Jun 07, 2011, 11:26 AM EDT

  Do not buy into the Democrats "medi-scare" crap. Socialized medicine does not work and it is completely UNCONSTITUTIONAL for the federal government to mandate that the people of the United States buy a product that is supplied by the government. Big government - get out of our lives! Do NOT tell us how to live, what cars to buy, what light bulbs to use, what insurance to buy, how long in our lives that we may seek to obtain medical care! Do NOT subsidize oil drilling and refining in Brazil; drill here and now to provide REAL jobs for Americans, NOT government jobs. Do NOT threaten us with audits from the IRS if we do not wish to purchase Obamacare! The job of the federal government is to provide for the common defense - everything else should be left up to the states to decide according to the 10th Amendment. Get OUT OF OUR LIVES!!!

• hancock | Jun 07, 2011, 11:17 AM EDT

  HOW WILL MEDICARE, SOCIALIZED MEDS BE PAID FOR?

• joreilly | Jun 07, 2011, 11:08 AM EDT

  Medicare and / or Soc. Sec. are not the problem to our troubles.The solution is in the hands of THE PEOPLE. Force the President,and Congress, to say enough is enough and bring home our troops from all over the damned world ....The Billions saved will help fill our coffers,build our infrastucture,and save our programs. And another thing !! How would Mr.Ryan and his cronies feel if they they had the same trials as John Doe with a lot less benefits (i.e $$$$).God Save America from these MORONS on both sides of the house.

• feeneycj | Jun 07, 2011, 10:14 AM EDT

  Cahir has totally missed the facts. Obamacare we can not afford. Nobody is safe after Obama and the democrats bankrupt the whole country.

• McNamara31 | Jun 07, 2011, 10:06 AM EDT

  When we remember the first health care meetings they were filled with people yelling don’t touch my health care. The message was basically saying I’ve got mine the heck with you. Now those same anti health care supporters are being targeted with the Ryan Plan that will eliminate Medicare as we know it. For years the GOP has wanted to deliver Social Security and Medicare to the private sector; remember when Bush in the years prior to the crash of 2008, was pushing a plan to allow social security monies to be invested in the stock market? Looking back we know how that would have worked. Then when McCain ran, he actually had a plan “to tax employer provided health care benefits.” And now they are coming after Medicare saying, don’t worry, you’re safe, this is only for those under 55; thinking it will be ok to throw the under 55’s under the bus. And it gets even better; the Ryan Plan also calls for a provision that while taking away your Medicare, they will cut the top tax rate for the wealthiest from 35% to 25%. It’s time to wake up and see who is working for you, and who is working for big business and corporate greed.

• colkelley | Jun 07, 2011, 10:05 AM EDT

  Why don't I see any mention of how Obamacare immediately takes $500 Million from Medicare and immediately boosts the costs accordingly - oh, that's right, Cahir is totally unconnected to fact and truth. I forgot how much of a biased, socialist moron Chair always proves himself to be.

• McNamara31 | Jun 07, 2011, 09:50 AM EDT

  When we remember the first health care meetings they were filled with people yelling don’t touch my health care. The message was basically saying I’ve got mine the hell with you. Now those same anti health care supporters are being targeted with the Ryan Plan that will eliminate Medicare as we know it. For years the GOP has wanted to deliver Social Security and Medicare to the private sector; remember when Bush in the years prior to the crash of 2008, was pushing a plan to allow social security monies to be invested in the stock market? Looking back we know how that would have worked. Then when McCain ran, he actually had a plan “to tax employer provided health care benefits.” And now they are coming after Medicare saying, don’t worry, you’re safe, this is only for those under 55; thinking it will be ok to throw the under 55’s under the bus. And it gets even better; the Ryan Plan also calls for a provision that while taking away your Medicare, they will cut the top tax rate for the wealthiest from 35% to 25%. It’s time to wake up and see who is working for you, and who is working for big business and corporate greed.