GOP Budget Proposes to Ration Medicare, Privatize Social Security
Throughout the bitter debate over health care reform, talking points about "rationing" and "cuts to Medicare" have been the twin pillars of Republican fear mongering. For example, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in June warned of reform that "denies, delays, or rations health care," only to falsely charge weeks later that Democrats "are going to pay for this plan by cutting Medicare, that is cutting seniors." But with the publication of the Republican "shadow" budget by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the GOP is now proposing exactly what just weeks ago it claimed to decry: rationing Medicare:
Last year, 137 House Republicans voted to convert the Medicare program that provides 46 million Americans with health insurance into a system of vouchers. (In September, Sarah Palin penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed which similarly called for "providing Medicare recipients with vouchers that allow them to purchase their own coverage.") Now, as Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias and TPM all noted, the GOP's Paul Ryan is making the privatization of Medicare the centerpiece of a new Republican deficit reduction gambit.
Of course, because the value of Ryan's vouchers fails to keep up with the out-of-control rise in premiums in the private health insurance market, America's elderly would be forced to pay more out of pocket or accept less coverage. The Washington Post's Klein described the inexorable Republican rationing of Medicare which would then ensue:
The proposal would shift risk from the federal government to seniors themselves. The money seniors would get to buy their own policies would grow more slowly than their health-care costs, and more slowly than their expected Medicare benefits, which means that they'd need to either cut back on how comprehensive their insurance is or how much health-care they purchase. Exacerbating the situation -- and this is important -- Medicare currently pays providers less and works more efficiently than private insurers, so seniors trying to purchase a plan equivalent to Medicare would pay more for it on the private market.
It's hard, given the constraints of our current debate, to call something "rationing" without being accused of slurring it. But this is rationing, and that's not a slur. This is the government capping its payments and moderating their growth in such a way that many seniors will not get the care they need.
On Tuesday, Ryan acknowledged as much.
Sadly for the Republican brain trust, he failed to follow the script that only Democratic reforms lead to "health care denied, delayed and rationed."
"Rationing happens today! The question is who will do it? The government? Or you, your doctor and your family?"
Of course, Ryan left out the real culprit - the private insurance market. But with 50 million uninsured, another 25 million underinsured, one in five American postponing needed care and medical costs driving over 60% of personal bankruptcies, Congressman Ryan is surely right that "rationing happens today."
But the Republican plan to "slash and privatize" hardly ends there. Despite insistence by the Republican leadership that the party is not officially advocating it, the Ryan alternative budget follows Rep. Jeb Hensarling's announced desire to privatize Medicare. As TPM documented:
Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-WI) the ranking Republican on the budget committee, recently detailed the Republican plan for Social Security that preserves the existing program for those 55 or older. For younger people the plan "offers the option of investing over one-third of their current Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts, similar to the Thrift Savings Plan available to federal employees."
If that sounds vaguely familiar, it should. After all, George W. Bush's disastrous drive to privatize Social Security helped undermine his presidency. Now, in the wake of a Wall Street meltdown that evaporated the retirement savings for countless thousands of Americans, the Republican wunderkind Ryan is calling for an encore.
In Paul Ryan's defense, his so-called "A Roadmap for America's Future" was scored by the Congressional Budget Office as erasing the long-term deficit entirely, and produce surpluses by 2080 (!). While the Post's Klein stated, "I wouldn't balance the budget in anything like the way Ryan proposes," he also admitted:
"The audacity is breathtaking. But it is also impressive."
Audacious, indeed. After months of scaring the American people into believing that President Obama and the Democrats would ration health care and gut Medicare, Paul Ryan's Republican Party now proposes to do both.
(This piece also appears at Perrspectives. For a look back at the hilarious April Fool's Day unveiling of Ryan's 2009 budget "marketing document," visit here.)
UPDATE: In the latest pathetic twist in the Republican budget saga, House Minority Leader John Boehner is now trying to distance himself from Paul Ryan's document. Claiming "it's his," Boehner nevertheless replied "Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you" when asked what in it he disagrees with.
If this storyline sounds familiar, it should. Boehner did the same thing last year after presenting Ryan's "The Republican Road to Recovery" with great fanfare:
"Two nights ago, the president said we haven't seen a budget yet of the Republicans. Well, it's not true, because here it is Mr. President."
For more, visit the American Road Map web site at http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/
And you know what, this shit will probably be gobbled up by the tea party crowd even though they would be the ones with the most to lose.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
The teabagger types have always voted against themselves. Even chickens aren't stupid enough to fight for the right to be in a 6-piece bucket.
The Democrats were planning on limiting the increase in Medicare to pay for their plan. They still are.
Which is a de facto cut when cost containment elsewhere would not be mandated.
The Republicans are scoundrels, so are the Democrats.
How do you help your credibility when you fail to point that out?
----
Zero Hedge here
Enron times one hundred, nowhere do they list the liabilities for Fannie Mae or Freddy Mac.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Thank you Mr. Ryans, you just assured the Democrats will not lose seats in November, or will minimize their losses. If the Democrats are unable to take this proposal and explain it to the people clearly, they don't deserve to lead. This is compassionate conservatism at its best. As long as we don't have to tax corporations and the wealthy, then this works for them. They are actually proposing throwing the elderly to the same wolves the rest of the nation is victim to. Good luck with that conservatives.
Rationing MEDICARE = "pulling the plug on Grandma"
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
First you throw babies out with the bath water,
now you throw out grandparents out with the bath water.
victory into defeat, nor their penchant for pleasing their corporate masters and screwing the little guy. Obama wants the cover of a *bi-partisan* commission, 1/2 REPUBLICANS, to make "tough" decisions on the budget; cuts to popular programs such as Medicare and SS are not off the table. A number of orgs are attempting to fight back -
The working and middle class must carry on their backs the enormous debt incurred by endless mega bailouts of the plutocrats and fighting 2 wars simultaneously, via taxes, 401K losses, job losses, and foreclosures; now our esteemed representatives are proposing cuts to their meager safety net ("entitlements"). Way to go, Democrats - we can always count on you to look out for the interests of the average American!
America Does Not Need An Undemocratic 'Deficit Commission'
Where in the GOP budget is the cue to chant USA! USA! USA!?
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
I hope America embraces this wonderful plan.
We need to keep that horrible government out of lives! We much stop the march of socialism!
USA! USA! USA!
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
listen, if anyone is going to ration my healthcare and deny me services i want it to be a for-profit company that makes 30% off of my disease, and not some sort of socialistic govt do-gooder!
oy
home-grown wing-nut continues to embarrass us (ok, me anyways; the what's-the-matter-with-kansas effect is in full-force in ryan's district...)
They accuse their opponents of doing this, that, and the other, then turn around & do the very thing they accuse the latter of.
That's the way they roll, backward.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
They roll us backward with no bread.
How about "Trainwreck to the Future"
How about a future?
Bush push for this in 2004 after he got "re-selected." It didn't work out so well for him that time.
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
could go low enough to propose you go lose your life savings and have nothing for retirement because republicans let Wall Street bankers gamble your money away with no regulation. Social Security is the best program for senior citizens the world has ever seen. It is also easily fixed by cutting some corporate welfare.
Republicans are liars and simply cannot be trusted.
you know.
If seniors haven't made enough positive choices to stand on their own two feet in their ripe old age, that's their own fault.
If it takes yanking their homes and assets away from them to teach this country the lesson it needs about self-sufficiency, then so be it.
Once this is passed, we could probably make a strong case for the re-implementation of debtors prisons.
With that, at least they would have a roof over their head and 3 somewhat marginal meals a day. Although a socialist ideal, it's cheaper than keeping them alive and healthy with our tax dollars burned on useless medical spending.
Now that is deficit reduction. Let's get to it!
to house a prison inmate that my annual income from Social Security./p>
their medical costs which we would no longer be forced to pay for through taxes and it is a completely different picture.
And I don't know if you are familiar with debtors prisons, but they are not the cushy country clubs of felons.
removing that $98,000 income cap on contributions. If they did that, Social Security would be self-supporting far into the future---as long as they put a double lock on that lockbox. The Reagan and Bush Administrations pretty much drained that sucker.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
needs to be only for the right sort of people.
//searches for some pearls to go clutch
Every time I go home to see the Old Man and his equally elderly friends, there's nothing else on their Tubes but Fox. At 'far right volume', of course.
Without fail, I hear them spout, literally unthinkingly word for word, what they hear people like O'Liely tell them.
And I recall the usual phone scams preying upon those same elderly, counting on diminished mental faculties to sell BS. The letters they get from Rethug legislators warning them of dire consequences should the 'libruhls' get their hands on 'Their (elders) Medicare', are no different. yet what the Rethugs want to do is no less destructive...and will do exactly what the Rethugs are warning the elderly about.
Yet they won't listen. You tell them that O'Liely is a corp-rat shill who doesn't care two sh*ts and a damn about them, and they get indignant. He's their friend, dontchaknow?
(And the real kicker is, the generation that is howling about 'socialism' is the very same generation that benefited from some such 'socialist' ideals as trade unions and collective bargaining, and enjoyed one of the most prosperous economic runs in American history. Memory degradation, indeed.)
I hate to say this, but a significant proportion of an entire generation may have to die off courtesy of Rethug budgetary rapaciousness and propagandizing before this country get's its' bearings again. It won't be Obama doing the euthanizing, but the Rethugs, through scaring old people into their graves.
when he was on the House floor last year stating that the GOP position on health care reform is: 'if you get sick, then hurry up and die'...or something to that effect. now with this proposed idea by Rep Ryan it confirms, essentially, that Grayson was right. the GOP wants individuals to take care of themselves ultimately. but some cant. what do we do about them GOP, you know some seniors? those ones who reliably vote. the ones you skirred into doubting Dems by your constant fear-mongering (pull the plug on Grandma-Chuck Grassley). now you, in a way, want to really 'pull the plug' on Grandma. by forcing her to pay for something she cant afford, and without having the health insurance companies (your benefactors) do any of the heavy lifting. all the lifting would be by Grandma. and that lifting will ultimately kill off Grandma. way to go, GOP. but then that Grandma was a Dem vote anyway, you rationalize.
maybe we could just 'pull the plugs' on all the Old Farts in Congress!!!
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
Paul Ryan deserves to be dismissed as a irrational bozo and should go back to planning the harvest of cheese at his Wisconsin farm and let the grown ups, that HOPEFULLY, are PAST CHIMPY'S BUDGET PLAN. We're NOT INTERESTED how this clown's math (or lack thereof) works nor does it seem that John "hey throw me that can of spray tanning solution" Bonehead. He won't even endorse his own, resluglican brothers plan!! What losers...
I read somewhere that eliminating Medicare and Medicaid-and the use of vouchers was part of a health care reform plan devised by Rahm's brother,Zeke.
and he has denounced it recently. Fool that he is.
Since when does the minority party get to write the budget?
present a budget for consideration so they can claim that none of their proposals were adopted.
They present a budget for consideration = NO, NO, NO.
Very nice. At least it's short and saves some trees.
.. you forgot the TAX CUTS ..
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
This shit has been the wet dream of the conservatives for over sixty years. Medicare is not that old but they would wreck it to pad the coffers of one corporation. What a worthless bunch of thugs. Why don't we focus on the real money in the perpertual wars of the GOP?
A "Roadmap for America's Future"?
Future?, Future? Future?
What future?
"I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Alberquerque!"
-- Bugs Bunny
Medicare Advantage is not Medicare but private insurance and a handout to the insurance compamies. It's money that can be spent in better ways. At the least there should be a maximum income threshold where only low income seniors can qualify. Just my two cents.
It's that damn Bridge to the 19th Century again!
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
For instance:
Colorado Springs cuts into services considered basic by many
More here .
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
when did they finish that bridge?
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
wow, I read some of the comments over there, and they are PROUD to do without such things as firemen, police, street lights and trash cans - what a bunch of morons.
the low-information voters. They're perfectly happy in their remote cabins with outhouses and their guns and their dogs.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
This is VERY cool. I hope we see more.
America said they wanted less government. Well...be careful what you ask for....
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Thank you for the Colorado Springs link
The Third World is coming here.
Mark Thoma:
here
From
here
The Inequality of wealth distribution in the United States rivals the worst of the Third World.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Oh knock it off with your propaganda, Alice.
Money means NOTHING. We're all equal in the eyes of the Lord dontcha know. ;o)
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
"Born Poor? Santa Fe Economist Samuel Bowles says you better get used to it."
It is amazing how few people know this.
America comes in dead last of all the 'developed' nations in this regard.
privatize, tax cuts, tort reform. The Rethuglican Party is just a 3-trick pony.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
Always the same: create a huge deficit with policy favoring wealthy, then insist on balancing on the backs of the poor and un-powerful.
Wahhhh ! We just can't afford entitlements. No one, Democratic or Republican even mentions the defense budget. The current one is 700 billion. It is there for all to see, but is unseen ignored, or denied. That works out to roughly $2,300 for every man, woman and child, this year alone.
Anybody notice how the military budget sailed through Congress even as the agonizing protracted cat fight over health care was only about halfway through its progress to where it is at this time?
There are our Yankee values right there for all to see. It is okay we can't / won't take care of ourselves as a society, but obscene amounts of wealth to kill foreigners on their soil? No problem, of course.
The most "entitled" among us are the organized killers. Mr. Eisenhower was prescient.
Get the word out. Let everyone know what the Republicans really want to do to the financial and health security of average Americans. O'ly the most otiose Teabagger will get this.
Ryan is a dead ringer for him and almost as intelligent.
I have been saying this for a while but if we want to fix whats wrong with America! We have to get rid of the republicans in government!
These people are not capable of making good decisions for themselves, how can they make good decisions for others?
Can you really trust people of with such a poor attitude, that lack moral fiber, honesty, an integrity?
All they have ever done is whine about how bad governmemt is. You do understand they are talking about you don't you?
The one thing everyone should know is that,
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness!
Looking at that ad, the first thing I notice is the "Highway to Nowhere" behind him.
Perfect metaphor.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
The stupid ASS is not liked in Wisconsin. Known as a huge liar.
Let the GOP approved Death Panels convene.
IOKIYAR
The Dow
iswas below 10k earlier today, BTW. Just barely over. Tumbled this week. Keep your filthy Thug mitts off my SS.me-oww!
of America will be revealed very soon.
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