Cain Jokes About His Own Medicare Ignorance
At a tea party event in Texas, an event that featured questions for the candidates, "Cain was asked about Medicare, specifically whether he supported a 'defined benefit plan or premium support.' 'A defined?' Cain said, pausing to rub his chin and look at the ceiling for guidance, before breaking the long silence by turning to Gingrich and saying, 'You go first, Newt.' The crowd erupted in laughter. It's apparently hilarious when your candidate can't answer a fundamental question about a central issue facing the country he wants to lead. Hi-larious!"
This is not a tricky question. And, Herman Cain is the front runner among Tea Partiers. Guess what. Herman Cain will be 65 years old in December. So, not only is he completely uninformed on public issues, he's completely uninformed on personal ones, too!
Romney's Death Plan for Medicare
"Mitt Romney's plan to overhaul Medicare follows a familiar Republican prescription: Use the power of the marketplace to bring down costs and improve care. Yet, such a move would fundamentally change the nature of the popular program, and treads close to a proposal that Republicans were heavily criticized for earlier this year." "The GOP presidential candidate's 'premium support' plan would provide a set amount of money to beneficiaries, allowing them to shop around for health coverage."
"Romney has promised that beneficiaries who like the current fee-for-service Medicare plan can opt for that instead of purchasing private insurance. But by giving beneficiaries a fixed amount of money to buy that government coverage, it is clear that Romney's plan would move Medicare from a 'defined benefit' program that pays a share of all medical bills a senior incurs." As usual and expected, excellent reporting from Kaiser Health News.
All of these plans to eliminate Medicare: Terrible, terrible, terrible. For all the same reasons as before. These continuous efforts to repeal Medicare simply demonstrate the tenaciousness of Conservative Republican hatred of Medicare and their determination to repeal it or make it ineffectual. They are not giving up, and that's why we need to write to our elected representatives over and over again and tell them what we believe and how we vote.
GOP Wants to Make a Deal
"With a Thanksgiving deadline fast approaching, the GOP members of a deficit-reduction supercommittee are pressing a plan to cut the deficit by about $1.5 trillion over the coming decade, showing flexibility on tax revenue increases for the first time while proposing to gradually raise the Medicare eligibility age to 67 for future retirees."
"The proposal also would cut spending by about $700 billion, mixing a less generous cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security beneficiaries with further cuts to agency operating budgets and curbs to the booming growth of Medicare and the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled. Other revenues would come from proposals such as auctioning broadcast spectrum, raising Medicare premiums and increasing aviation security fees."
Still bad ideas with negative consequences beyond the impact on future retirees themselves. As usual, the Conservative Republicans are trying to minimize the impact on one percent of the population at the considerable expense of the other 99 percent. Shameful ... but that doesn't stop them.
Super Committee = Super Impact on Economy?
"Some Democrats have come under a lot of criticism lately, much of it deserved, for abandoning popular and important programs that were historically associated with their party. But some of the other Democrats -- the ones who are trying to act in the country's best interests -- are genuinely concerned about what will happen to the economy if the Super Committee fails to come up with a plan. This message is for them -- and anyone else who has the same concern. You need to know that the evidence is clear: A Super Committee failure won't hurt the economy at all."
Surprising Support for Health Care Reform
The Conservative Above-the-Law Zone
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