Obama may or may not win reelection, and I have mixed feelings about him right now, but the Gas and Oil Party (GOP) is certainly handing the Democrats Congress on a silver platter. First, Ryan laid out in black and white that the GOP wants to kill Medicare. And, Boener foolishly forced every Republican in the House to vote for it. Now, at town meetings, seniors are up in arms. I don't think they really understood how popular Medicare is with seniors and with those who hope to be seniors some day.
It is fun to hear the GOP reps back pedal My favorite is the guy who said he didn't vote to kill Medicare. He voted for a budget blueprint. And a senior says, "a blueprint that will kill Medicare."
Unlike Medicaid, Medicare is an isurance program we've all paid for. Killing it is stealing our money. Which they do all the time, but they rarely tell us about it. The voucher program is beyond idiocy. An $8000 voucher may sound nice, but many, many seniors can't get insurance at any price and most cannot get it for $8000. The older you get, the less the voucher helps.
To put it into perspective, my Mother is 82 years old. She receives Medicare and has purchased a "no frills" supplement plan from by far the cheapest provider. The supplement costs her over $5000 a year and pays 30% of Medicare approved charges. This is a two part problem. First, a policy from the same co. that pays the entire amount would cost her over $16,000, assuming she could get it, which I doubt. Secondly, it would probably cost much more than that high number as Medicare would not be setting prices for services and no one insurance co. can get anywhere near Medicare's low prices.
Does Medicare have to be reformed? Maybe, if we don't deep six the private insurance system that is medical insanity. But to kill is to set up a fiscal death panel. The huge problems with private insurance cos. was the reason Medicare was passed in the first place.
2. Many, many GOP reps made total fools of themselves over the birther thing. In places like Arizona and Alaska, it doesn't matter. But, it does in swing states. Nobody likes to think they have an all day sucker representing them. True, they may go for another Republican who isn't quite so stupid, but even that would be an improvement. |
