Politics Decoded
Goodbye Medicare?
Exxon had a $37.3 billion profit last year,
Chevron had a $18.5 billion profit last year,
Meanwhile these companies are shipping jobs overseas at an alarming rate!
What does this have to do with Medicare? The Republican Ryan budget will not only keep doling out these tax cuts, it will also lower the highest rates. How can the American people afford this generosity? Simple. The plan proposes to balance the budget and pay for these tax cuts on the backs of the middle class and the poor.
It will kill Medicare and Medicaid as we know it. The Republican Ryan budgets cuts $700 billion to medicare. Anyone currently under 55 will be forced to purchase health insurance with a partial-payment voucher (think coupon) through insurance companies in their old age. Because it would also eliminate the protections provided by health care reform, future seniors would have no help when they’re turned down or charged exorbitant fees.
The Congressional Budget Office said that seniors would pay more than twice as much of their medical costs as they do now. That’s if they can even get it. This is why Medicare was started in the first place - insurance agencies don’t want to insure old people!
And to top it off, Republicans are lying about President Obama robbing medicare of $716 billion to pay for Obamacare. President Obama did not cut any benefits from Medicare, but he did institute reducing spending for over-priced, private insurance companies (Medicare Advantage) and hospitals that have too many re-admissions.
See "Republican Budget" page here.
See "Goodbye Nursing Homes?" page here.