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Aux letters to the editor, Citoyens! Republicans vote to end Medicare

DCblogger's picture
Submitted by DCblogger on Fri, 04/15/2011 - 2:49pm
Departments: 
Department of Bust Out Profit Models and Vampiric Capitalism
Thread: 
Republican Playbook

Roll call vote on Ryan bill to end Medicare. If your representative voted against Medicare, please write a letter to the editor criticizing the vote. We need to get the word out.

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Submitted by MontanaMaven on

Two reasons probably: Lot of old people here in MT and he's running against Tester for the Senate.

Submitted by Lex on

I know Stupak's not well loved, but overall he was a good Rep and he would have voted no. Instead, i've got a TeaParty type jackass who votes "yea" on a bill like this.

Before i start my letter, and because i've only followed the intricacies of the jackassery with my peripheral vision, would someone please confirm if i have the ideas proposed by Ryan correctly.

This wouldn't end Medicare for those already in the system, correct?

It ends Medicare as we know it for us younger people. Of course they/he'd be too afraid to confront the Boomer and Beyond bloc, but under the banner of saving us younger people from other people's debt, we'll be thrown into debt to cover medical expenses as we age.

If i have this correct, i'm not entirely sure that i can write a publishable letter on the subject.

Submitted by Lex on

I admit it. My time is currently limited in any case; an 8 week old puppy doesn't allow much time to do anything but puppy stuff.

I figured that people here keep closer tabs on this issue than just about anywhere on the net. I'm all for "look it up"...the constant refrain of my parents when we asked questions, but sometimes it is just easier to ask.

beowulf's picture
Submitted by beowulf on

Currently, Congress defers large cuts in Medicare reimbursement of provider fees (the so-called "doc fix") on a regular basis (since the 90s, the provider schedule has supposed to have been cut for some stupid budget savings reason) . The doc fix always passes (after occasional delays) because there is such a large pool of Medicare recipients who have the unnerving tendency to vote in every election.

So suppose Ryan's bill passes, once the current 55 year olds hit 65, they go into an Obamacare plan and as older Medicare patients pass away, the remaining Medicare cohort keeps getting smaller. There will be less and less pressure to vote for the annual doc fix.

Since physicians always have the right to refuse Medicare reimbursement (but never do since they're then forbidden to bill for any other Medicare patient for I think 2 years), as the Medicare pool shrinks and Medicare fees drop, it won't take long for Medicare to implode, next step--- Obamacare (or the morgue). Of course, without a permanent doc fix the Republicans can block doc fix votes anytime in the next 10 years, watch Medicare fees drop substantially (at least 25%) and speed up, umm, the cycle of life for Medicare.

If Obama didn't have such a senseless urge to keep the budget cost of HCR under the magic $1 trillion over 10 year number (that's why Obamacare doesn't kick in till 2014), he could have passed a permanent doc fix as part of the HCR bill, but that would have made too much sense so I'll be quiet now.

beowulf's picture
Submitted by beowulf on

Dear Editor,

I read this evening that our Congressman X voted to eliminate Medicare and replace it with Obamacare, taxpayer subsidized private insurance. As one Republican senator explained,
"It's exactly like Obamacare," said NRSC chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Capitol Thursday. "It is. It's exactly like it.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/...

Congressman X promised last fall to protect Medicare from President Obama cutting $500 billion's in subsidies to bailout the insurance industry and yet when Paul Ryan proposed to phase out Medicare and move our seniors to Obamacare, Congressman X stood tall and voted "Yes we can".

As Washington Post has reported (and X surely knows), over the last 30 years, Medicare has had a lower medical cost inflation rate over the last 30 years than private insurance.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-kl...

With healthcare so expensive, its a waste of our tax dollars to eliminate the cost-efficient Medicare system and instead pay subsidies to cost-inefficient private insurers, the only industry in America Congress has specifically exempted from federal antitrust laws, A blanket exemption from the laws that every other business in America must obey, I suppose that's one definition of "free market" and that's who Congressman X voted to support instead of Medicare.

Winston Churchill once said, "Disease must be attacked, whether it occurs in the poorest or the richest man or woman simply on the ground that it is the enemy. and it must be attacked just in the same way as the fire brigade will give its full assistance to the humblest cottage as readily as to the most important mansion".

We voted for Congressman X to fight our enemies, not surrender in the first battle and cut what's left of Medicare after Obama's own cuts.. We need a Member of Congress who will fight to protect what works and make it work for everybody. I think Congressman X should mend some fences and work to eliminate Obamacare and replace it with a Medicare open to everyone. I'll leave it to X's conscience to decide (I'm sure it won't require a poll) whether its wiser to follow the lead of Winston Churchill or Barack Obama.

Submitted by jawbone on

Republicans will begin with deriding the "greedy geezers," followed by demands for the elderly to take on their fair part of the "shared sacrifice." Soon the need to make cuts to "balance the budget" will mean more and more cuts to Medicare as We Know It...for the good of children.

Who knows? Obama et al might start that ball rolling.

Along with the squeezes put on doctors, the end of Medicare as We Know It will be racing towards us.

Turlock