Showing posts with label Medicare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medicare. Show all posts
That a boy
Former Bushie and U.S. Senate candidate, Tommy Thompson, in Wisconsin told a group of tea baggers back in June that he is the perfect manly man to follow through on doing away with Medicare. Publicly (i.e., when speaking to non-tea baggers), Thompson is on record as saying he merely supports Paul Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system. For all logical purposes, following Paul Ryan's plan to make Medicare a voucher system is "doing away" with Medicare.
Quickies
- A study conducted by Brown University tabs the cost of Bush's endless war program at nearly $4 trillion. Not one single penny has been raised by the treasury to help pay for it either. Just the opposite has happened actually. Bush cut taxes and then President Obama helped extend those tax cuts. Meanwhile the Obama administration has expanded our wars into Libya and Yemen. Let's not forget about the recession...
- Joe Lieberman and Tom Coburn introduced legislation yesterday that would raise the qualifying Medicare age and reportedly save about $600 billion over ten years. Couple it with tax increases and it might work.
- Fox News is now suggesting Jon Stewart is racist. Next up they'll be suggesting he had secret brain surgery too.
- Just how much do you depend on government programs? Way more than you realize. Which is to repeat one of my famous treatise. People do not care about the size of government at all. It's about the efficiency of government.
- Google's new social network looks promising. But how can I get an invite?
This Is How Dems Lose the Messaging Battle
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeBut what I want to highlight, in many of the same ways Greg Sargent has, is the content of the ad. Republicans are trying to say that by voting against Rep. Ryan's budget plan that turns Medicare into a private voucher system, Costello is, by his no vote, allowing the social safety net of Medicare to collapse.
Yes Republicans running on the fact that America has a social safety net is monumental I know. Agreeably, this is quite an odd ad for Republicans to run. Not only did the GOP in both the House and Senate vote to pass the Ryan Plan, they voted to officially voucherize Medicare and end it as we know it. So you would think the people who just voted to do away with Medicare wouldn't be bashing someone for supposedly ending Medicare, right?
But Republicans don't care. They don't care about how ridiculous this looks. They don't care about the facts supporting their ad. They only care about the sensation their ad will produce with senior citizens-- you know the people who actually vote and use Medicare. Instead of being appalled that people who voted to do away with Medicare would try to bash someone for an insolvency that is decades down the road, create an ad just as sensational in response.
Create an ad talking about how Republicans want to back their cars over your grandma. Sure it's not true but it will be on par with the crap the GOP is running. It's either going to come to a point where both sides will agree to end the charade or all of our grandmas are going to be dead. It's an easy game to play. It's even easier when you want to win it.
The Sheep Speak
Speaker John Boehner says losing the 40-year Republican stronghold of NY-26 was more about third party candidates and a not so good GOP candidate than about Medicare.
That's fine. He may be correct. I don't doubt at all the third party candidate helped the Democrats. Like I said yesterday, anyone who says this one special election in NY is a bellwether is foolish. Given that the Senate GOP voted to end Medicare yesterday, I also don't doubt Republicans view losing NY-26 as a small anomaly. If they thought otherwise they had ample opportunity yesterday to not vote in favor of abolishing Medicare.
I'm perfectly content going into an election year with Republicans thinking privatizing Medicare isn't a big electoral issue.
That's fine. He may be correct. I don't doubt at all the third party candidate helped the Democrats. Like I said yesterday, anyone who says this one special election in NY is a bellwether is foolish. Given that the Senate GOP voted to end Medicare yesterday, I also don't doubt Republicans view losing NY-26 as a small anomaly. If they thought otherwise they had ample opportunity yesterday to not vote in favor of abolishing Medicare.
I'm perfectly content going into an election year with Republicans thinking privatizing Medicare isn't a big electoral issue.
Like Sheep
Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) put Senate Republicans in a hard spot today. Either break with your party, something Republicans have rarely done in the last decade, or vote to end Medicare. 40 Senate Republicans voted to end Medicare and for the Rep. Paul Ryan budget.
There can be no doubt the vote was scheduled by Harry Reid on purpose. It was intended to put Republicans on record. And now there can be no doubt, the official platform of the current GOP is to replace Medicare with a privatized voucher plan that CBO has reported won't keep pace with inflation and will cause health care costs for senior citizens to rise sharply. Like sheep to slaughter is how George Washington would describe it.
There can be no doubt the vote was scheduled by Harry Reid on purpose. It was intended to put Republicans on record. And now there can be no doubt, the official platform of the current GOP is to replace Medicare with a privatized voucher plan that CBO has reported won't keep pace with inflation and will cause health care costs for senior citizens to rise sharply. Like sheep to slaughter is how George Washington would describe it.
Dems Pickup House Seat
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| The actual pic Lee sent in response to the ad |
After all, this seat had remained in Republican hands through the 2006 and 2008 cycles that saw huge Dem pickups elsewhere in the country. So there had to be something else affecting the district. The only other change maker was a very aggressive plan by Democrat Kathy Hochul who was announced the winner last night against Republican Jane Corwin.
Her plan consisted of making Republican efforts to dismantle Medicare her centerpiece. Throughout the campaign Hochul mentioned every time she could that Corwin supported Paul Ryan's budget plan which would turn Medicare into a voucher system.
As we all know, Medicare is not a voucher system and turning it into one renders it obsolete. Medicare is a single payer health insurance system that allows senior citizens access to government-run health insurance at comparable rates to the private market. The problem is, senior citizens can't purchase and/or afford private plans because they are considered high risk. The result leaves millions of seniors without insurance. Enter the need for Medicare and why it's a popular government program. It's popularity is huge with seniors who benefit greatly from it and it just so happens seniors love to vote almost as much as they love their government-run health care. And voters chose the lady who supported keeping Medicare intact.
It's impossible to state that this is a sign of things to come. Anyone who says that is foolish I think. But it is a definite model for how Democrats should run their campaigns in 2012. The GOP lined up and voted for Paul Ryan's budget plan that dismantles Medicare. It is officially their alternative plan for this country. There's no reason voters shouldn't be made aware of it and no reason why Democrats can't use it to unite against. Medicare or Republicare? You decide.
Related articles
Ryan's Plan Does Exactly What It Says It Does
As we are knee-deep in the middle of our current operating budget debate, we are already getting a preview of what next year is going to look like.
The proposed budget for next year from Republicans is a plan largely authored by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Ryan's Plan has a lot of problems, some with reality, and some with very real items like ending Medicare and Medicaid.
The plan calls for Medicare to be replaced with a system of vouchers. This means the government will give senior citizens vouchers in which they can purchase health insurance from private companies. The vouchers will be held to the rate of inflation, which is a very cruel trick on the elderly.
So why the rate of inflation and not the actual rate of the growth in health care costs?
Well, if you make the vouchers keep pace with the actual growth rate of health care costs, all the savings Ryan claims in his plan is wiped out. Here's what he's doing. He dismantles Medicare. Replaces it with vouchers that won't, by any stretch of the imagination, keep up with the rising costs of health care since health care costs triple the rate of inflation. Logically, when the vouchers are only covering a portion of the costs, seniors will have to make up for it out of pocket. CBO has already backed this up and very clearly stated the plan will raise costs for seniors.
Simply said, Ryan's Plan abolishes Medicare, which is right now one of the most popular government social programs ever created. Why don't he just come right out and say he wants to do away with Medicare and make old people pay more for health care? Cause you don't get elected doing that.
The proposed budget for next year from Republicans is a plan largely authored by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Ryan's Plan has a lot of problems, some with reality, and some with very real items like ending Medicare and Medicaid.
The plan calls for Medicare to be replaced with a system of vouchers. This means the government will give senior citizens vouchers in which they can purchase health insurance from private companies. The vouchers will be held to the rate of inflation, which is a very cruel trick on the elderly.
So why the rate of inflation and not the actual rate of the growth in health care costs?
Well, if you make the vouchers keep pace with the actual growth rate of health care costs, all the savings Ryan claims in his plan is wiped out. Here's what he's doing. He dismantles Medicare. Replaces it with vouchers that won't, by any stretch of the imagination, keep up with the rising costs of health care since health care costs triple the rate of inflation. Logically, when the vouchers are only covering a portion of the costs, seniors will have to make up for it out of pocket. CBO has already backed this up and very clearly stated the plan will raise costs for seniors.
Simply said, Ryan's Plan abolishes Medicare, which is right now one of the most popular government social programs ever created. Why don't he just come right out and say he wants to do away with Medicare and make old people pay more for health care? Cause you don't get elected doing that.
Shut Down Days Away, CBO Says GOP Budget Would Increase Debt and Raise Medicare Costs
With a Friday deadline to avoid a government shutdown three days away, talks between Congressional Republicans and President Obama appeared to breakdown this afternoon. The talks seemed to reach an impasse over a deal to cut $33 billion or $40 billion from the 2012 operating budget. Earlier last week the former figure seemed likely.
All this comes on the heels of the CBO report detailing the alternative Republican budget [for FY12] would increase public debt to 70% of GDP by 2022. That's higher than it would be if current projections are left alone. In other words, the Republican alternative actually raises the federal debt. This should come as no surprise since Republicans have no track record of ever doing anything except increasing the federal debt.
CBO also reported Medicare costs would be almost three times more expensive if the Republican plan is adopted than they would if just left alone. The plan calls for Medicare to be replaced by a voucher system that would allow senior citizens to purchase health care from private insurers. CBO clearly stated on page 4 the results would force senior citizens to pay more for health care.
"[T]he gradually increasing number of Medicare beneficiaries participating in the new premium support program would bear a much larger share of their health care costs than they would under the current program."
*Editor's Note of Clarity
The proposed GOP alternative budget is for fiscal year 2012 and has nothing to do with the current budget negotiations between the White House and congressional Republicans.
All this comes on the heels of the CBO report detailing the alternative Republican budget [for FY12] would increase public debt to 70% of GDP by 2022. That's higher than it would be if current projections are left alone. In other words, the Republican alternative actually raises the federal debt. This should come as no surprise since Republicans have no track record of ever doing anything except increasing the federal debt.
CBO also reported Medicare costs would be almost three times more expensive if the Republican plan is adopted than they would if just left alone. The plan calls for Medicare to be replaced by a voucher system that would allow senior citizens to purchase health care from private insurers. CBO clearly stated on page 4 the results would force senior citizens to pay more for health care.
"[T]he gradually increasing number of Medicare beneficiaries participating in the new premium support program would bear a much larger share of their health care costs than they would under the current program."
*Editor's Note of Clarity
The proposed GOP alternative budget is for fiscal year 2012 and has nothing to do with the current budget negotiations between the White House and congressional Republicans.
Let Josh Have This Fight
Just sit back and watch because just like in 2005 when Josh Marshall nearly single handily destroyed the Republican plan to phase out Social Security, Marshall must be allowed to put the gloves back on again to prevent the same from happening to Medicare. Follow his lead.
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