GOP Medicare Woes
FOLLOW UP: "The Kaiser Family Foundation’s latest tracking poll has some worrisome news for the remaining four Republican presidential contenders, not the least of which is its finding that 53 percent of all Republicans don’t want Medicare messed with. As the survey put it, they want Medicare 'as it is today, with the government guaranteeing seniors health insurance and making sure that everyone gets the same defined set of benefits.'"
"That leaves all the GOP candidates out of sync with most Republicans on Medicare. Add Democrats to the equation -- just as they’ll be after the primary season -- and the numbers are stunningly lopsided, with about 70 percent of Americans saying they favor the Medicare program as it exists today."
Patients Aware
"Patients Aware is a national network of doctors, nurses, and caregivers who provide information directly to seniors about the Affordable Care Act. Many seniors are still not aware of the new benefits provided in the Affordable Care Act such as free preventive care services, closing the Part D prescription drug donut hole and incentives for providers and hospitals to keep patients healthy and independent."
The Good of Wyden-Ryan
OPINION: "An honest debate over Medicare’s future may be too much to hope for in an election year. But candidates should think twice before staking out positions that could tie their hands in next year’s unavoidable showdown over public debts and Medicare spending. After all, 50 percent will win and actually have to govern. That’s why it’s a big mistake to allow the leading bipartisan proposal for Medicare reform -- the Wyden-Ryan plan -- to fall victim to election-year Medagoguery."
"It’s the brainchild of Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, a progressive Medicare champion who once led a Gray Panthers chapter in Oregon, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the Budget Committee and darling of tea party conservatives. If this political odd couple can agree on a balanced way to slow the unsustainable growth of Medicare costs, there may be hope for real entitlement reform yet."
Not Easy Being Green
"Twenty-five million new jobs; Medicare for all and; free college for every student; these are just some of the plans Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein would like to implement, if elected in November. Touting her Green New Deal, a play on Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal of the early 20th century, Stein rolled into South Bend Sunday evening to speak at a Green Party event at the Knights of Columbus hall on East Washington Street."
The Republican Reality-Free Zone
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I don't get how the above pitch for privatizing Medicare with vouchers fits on this web page. Medicare is NOT a primary driver of our nation's debt. The wars, the military-industrial complex, and the interest on the debt that is primarily from our unfunded wars and military-industrial-complex costs are the main causes of our debt. Let's not let folks try to fool us into believing that privatizing Medicare is the way to pay for the continuing federal debt. We should know that Medicare spending lags the percentage of increase in the overall spending on American health care each year. Medicare is NOT a primary reason for our nation's debt. That is a misleading fib. Don't mess with Social Security, and don't mess with Medicare, I say. Reduce fraud, waste and abuse under Medicare, yes, but do NOT try to tell us that we need to reduce our debt by restructuring Medicare.
ReplyDeleteIt's not my pitch. And I'm completely against vouchers or any diminution of Medicare for its beneficiaries. I do add an occasional piece or study with contrary views -- sometimes to keep us up to date on the arguments we have to confront and sometimes because there's a different spin. Medicare is a pre-paid public benefit that is in harmony with America's best values. We need to protect it and America.
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