Supreme Health Care Decision, Florida GOP Downplays Medicare, Tavenner on Top, Biden on GOP Plans

Supreme Court Bias Expected

From Kaiser Health News:  "With the Supreme Court just two months away from hearing a historic legal challenge to the 2010 health law, nearly 60 percent of the public expects the justices to depend more on personal ideology than a legal analysis of the individual mandate, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's January health tracking poll."

"Just 28 percent of those surveyed believe the justices will base their decision on the mandate without regard to politics and ideology, according to the survey.  The poll also asked about general views of the Supreme Court and found three quarters of the public believe that justices sometimes let their ideological views influence their decisions.  Seventeen percent of those surveyed say justices usually decide cases based on legal analysis."

Medicare Concerns Secondary to Florida Republicans Says Chairman

"Though [Leonard] Curry [chairman of the Republican Party of Florida] acknowledges that other issues like Medicare and Social Security are important for Florida voters, he said they are secondary to the economy.  But others are not so sure."

"Victoria Funes, associate director of the American Association of Retired Persons in South Florida, said the large percentage of older voters in the state put emphasis on traditional senior issues.  'We know that Social Security and Medicare are very important to Florida Republicans,' said Funes. 'They oppose any kind of cuts.'  She pointed to a survey conducted by the AARP in November that showed that likely Republican voters oppose cutting the entitlement programs by more than two to one."

Medicare Chief In The Money

"President Obama’s nominee to run the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid agency can count on receiving more than $160,000 a year in retirement pay for the rest of her life from the country’s largest private hospital chain, records show.  Marilyn Tavenner, a former executive at Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), was nominated in November to be administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency at the heart of Mr. Obama’s health care initiative.  She disclosed the arrangement with her old employer in a newly filed government ethics form."

Remember

Remember to visit "2012 Campaign Watch" from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Biden on GOP Plans

"Republican presidential hopefuls are blatantly focused on advancing economic policies that favor the wealthy over most Americans, giving voters in the 2012 election a clear choice, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday.  Biden told reporters there's no discussion in the Republican campaign about compassionate conservatism, or wanting to save Medicare or education as in past campaigns.  'The reason I think this race is going to be so clear is that for the first time in my career, Republicans aren't hiding the ball,' he said.  'They're putting forward a political philosophy that is absolutely straight-forward...  The way it's going to work is to not only keep the tax cuts for the wealthy but increase tax cuts for the wealthy, and the way to move forward is to deregulate Wall Street.'"

For Your Information

Ron Paul's Plan for Medicare Reform: Legalize Pot

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