Koch Juice: Proposed $5 Trillion In Medicare Cuts Over 10 Years is Immoral

Original Link: http://asheham.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/koch-juice-proposed-5-trillion-in-medicare-cuts-over-10-years-is-immoral/

This will be the fight President Obama must fight else he will lose his bid for reelection. He has already alienated many environmentalists as he is still promoting safe nuclear, clean coal, and is backing the Keystone XL transportation of tarsands from Canada to Texas. Progressives and liberals have not quite gotten over his approving the $2 trillion Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Unions are still waiting for him to “walk the line” as he promised as candidate-Obama. And the Baby Boomers will not take kindly to this exploitation. Here is what the President needs to address:

$5 Trillion In Cuts Over 10 Years proposed by Republican Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin. Most of those cuts would be in healthcare. He calls it “savings”. I call it immoral.
The proposals fall hard on Medicaid and Medicare, on the elderly, the infirmed, the disabled, and the dying. He proposes vouchers and other tricks to ease our pain.

When we get back to 3-4% GDP and employment around 6-7% there will be plenty of revenue to fund these programs. The big problem is the corporations are not investing to create the American jobs we need and thus we have a revenue shortfall. THIS IS A SHORT TERM PROBLEM THAT WE CAN WEATHER. The President needs to put pressure on the business sector to invest in America and create jobs. More jobs, more taxes, and programs get funded. Basic math 101.
What we have is Paul Ryan, another corporate-loving right-winger and member of ALEC the Koch backed lobbying group, who is promoting the Koch agenda to privatize public services like healthcare so that we all will be beholding to corporations, their boards of directors, and middlemen who will offer “a variety of plans”, all the while jacking up prices and bankrupting Americans.
Here is what they are after: Billions of dollars from the 70 million Baby Boomers who will age, get sick, and die over the next 30-40 years. And all their money they will spend on their health will flow into corporations — a gold mine of an opportunity. They want to cash in on my generation, my body, my mortality. Think about it for just one minute. These companies are looking at 70 million CUSTOMERS, NOT PATIENTS. They are vultures.

We can pump up revenues without job creation: Let’s stop the wars and get companies like GE to pay their fair share of taxes, plus all those multi-national slackers that owe this country billions.
Contact your representative on this critical issue. This is about your very life and who will say what care your get and how much you will pay.

Just a note: I have a previous post on the fact that the number one cause of bankruptcy in America is medical debt. Also, 48 million Americans cannot afford private insurance already. That’s the reality.
FROM MLIVE:

Speaking broadly about the proposal, Ryan said it would include:

—A “premium support system” for Medicare. In the future, older people would choose plans in the marketplace and the government would subsidize those plans. Ryan said that would differ from the voucher system he has proposed in the past. Those 55 and older would remain under the present Medicare system.

Ryan acknowledged that the “premium support system” would shift more costs to Medicare recipients, especially what he called “wealthy seniors.” He did not define at what level someone would be considered wealthy.

—Block grants to states for Medicaid, the health program for the poor. Ryan disputed reports that the plan would seek savings of $1 trillion over 10 years from Medicaid, but would say only that the details would be in the plan.

“Medicare and Medicaid spending will go up every single year under our budget. They don’t just go up as much as they’re going right now,” he said. Ryan said governors have told members of Congress they want “the freedom to customize our Medicaid programs. … We want to get governors freedom to do that.”

—A statutory cap on actual discretionary spending as a percentage of the economy. While Ryan did not specify the amount during the interview, he said it would be at a lower level than proposed by Obama and would return the government to its “historic size.”

—Pro-growth tax changes, including lower tax rates and broadening the tax base. Ryan said overhauling taxes would boost the economy. The plan will not propose tax increases.