Medicare reform face bothers GOP
Republicans fought health care reform in 2010 by threatening seniors with dire warnings about slashed Medicare benefits. There's a GOP budget proposal for 2011 called “Path to Prosperity.” The spending budget would trigger, in just one decade, a $5 trillion cut in the budget. Ryan would like to dismantle Medicare, a $520 billion program that provides medical coverage to approximately 47 million older and disabled Americans. About 30 million Americans could be impacted by the GOP Medicare reform strategy. It would be responsible for repealing the health care reform law. For Americans currently 54 and younger, instead of Medicare they would get a federal payment to buy private insurance from a choice of government-regulated plans. The poor and disabled would not be able to get health care any longer with the federal government. Instead, each state could do whatever it wants with the Medicare program. Everyone who retires would have to be at least 67 years old to get Medicare benefits.
Strategy for GOP bad for retirees
With pre-existing conditions, some may not be able to afford health care insurance anymore with the Republican Medicare reform being considered. States, which have gone broke during the economic downturn, can have their ability to offer vulnerable low-income people protection further eroded. Analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in the future retirees would pay more because benefits would be more costly to deliver through private insurers. By 2030, the government payment used to purchase health insurance would only cover about one-third of a person's total health care costs.
Ryan downplays tax cuts for the wealthy
The United States health care safety net is something Republicans have been against. For 50 years they have tried to get rid of it. In order to do this, Ryan has used “Path to Prosperity” and deficit reductions as excuses. ”Path to Prosperity” is also being used to get more tax cuts put together. More or less, Ryan is hoping to get the Bush tax cuts as permanent considering the strategy to lower individual top tax brackets down from 35 to 25 percent. Cutting Medicare is part of this. In a slick video presenting his spending budget proposal, Ryan does not mention the tax cuts, however he says cutting Medicare is the only way to save it. It's a familiar Republican strategy. Another warning similar to this came in 1995. Republicans said a deficit needed to be fixed. They proposed saving Medicare by privatizing it. At this time, President Clinton told the true GOP plan. A tax cut would be funded by cutting Medicare. Clinton prevailed 16 years back because Medicare was more popular than tax cuts for the affluent.
Articles cited
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-budget-replaces-medicare-with-vouchers-for-future-retirees-beneficiary-costs-seen-rising/2011/04/06/AFKnkEnC_story.html?nl_headlines
The New Republic
tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/86270/the-achilles-heel-the-path-prosperity
MSN Money
money.msn.com/health-and-life-insurance/article.aspx?post=4d5e9e3a-208b-4a1a-861c-50bcc5afe31f
Salon
salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/04/06/paul_ryans_plan_to_dismantle_the_great_society/index.html
Source for this article - Ryan budget plan: Medicare reform to offset tax cuts for the rich by MoneyBlogNewz.
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