Rookie Rep. Chris Gibson continues to be a Tea Party parrot, voting to shut down the government and expressing strong support for an extreme Republican/Tea Party budget plan that will eliminate Medicare.
The GOP budget proposal would eliminate the current Medicare program and turn it into a voucher system, with seniors getting inadequate vouchers to use to buy junk insurance from for-profit health insurance companies.
According to a Congressional Budget Office analysis, the Republican voucher (a measly $8,000 a year in 2022!) would pay for just a third of the cost of a health insurance package equivalent to the current Medicare benefit.
So, Gibson and the Republican extremists want to eliminate Medicare and substantially raise what seniors spend for health care, by more than $10,000 a year.
In a remarkably shameless lie, even for such an accomplished liar, Gibson says this will "strengthen and preserve" Medicare.
Far-right Republicans have always hated Medicare, because it actually helps people who need help.
They much prefer helping the rich pay less in taxes, and the Republican/Tea Party plan does some more of that, cutting the income tax rate AND the nominal corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent.
Thanks to those massive tax cuts, the extreme Republican budget plan would actually INCREASE the deficit relative to GDP in its first 10 years. Only after the screw-the-seniors Medicare plan kicks in does the deficit go down relative to GDP.
So, when Gibson says this is all about reducing the deficit, he is lying, again.
It's really all about even more massive tax cuts for the wealthiest, and killing Medicare.
Schodack Democrat Linda Underwood questioned Gibson about this on FaceBook and here is his reply. How do you respond to what Congressman Gibson said?
ReplyDeleteCongressman Chris Gibson
Linda - this is factually incorrect. The plan proposed by House Republicans is based on a proposal developed by the Obama Deficit Commission. It is NOT a voucher program. The reason this reform is necessary (and why it was addressed in the ...Obama Commission to begin with) is that Medicare is on a path to bankruptcy – it simply will no longer be solvent and the levels of waste and fraud currently in the program are inexcusably high. Thus, without a fix, Medicare could in fact be no longer available. The plan released would do the following:
- Starting in 2022, new Medicare beneficiaries will be enrolled in the same kind of health-care program that Members of Congress and federal employees have access to.
- A Medicare Exchange program would be set up so that new Medicare enrollees could pick between a variety of guaranteed coverage options that are pre-approved by the federal government
- The premium for this plan would be paid, by Medicare, to the plan chosen by the beneficiary, subsidizing its cost
- Seniors currently on Medicare will experience NO change in benefits
- Those 55 and older will experience no change
- For those familiar with Medicare Advantage, this new program would operate similarly to that in that seniors can choose the plan the works best for their needs)
- Additionally, lower income seniors and those who are chronically ill receive increased benefits
Gibson is just repeating GOP talking points/lies.
ReplyDeleteIt is a voucher program that would shift health care costs to seniors - no honest person would deny that.
But Gibson is not an honest person.
Check out this nonpartisan link: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2011/April/06/CBO-Seniors-Pay-More-Medicare-Ryan-Plan.aspx
Gibson voted to shut down the government? What's the H.R. #?
ReplyDeleteThe deficit commission did not adopt the Medicare voucher plan, which was proposed by commission member Paul Ryan.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40244470/ns/politics/
Ryan -- Gibson's vote Wednesday for HR 1363, which would keep the government going for a mere week in return for $12 billion more in cuts and included non-germane poison pills on women's health and environmental protection, was essentially a vote to shut the government down on Friday.
ReplyDeleteWhich is what his radical tea party supporters want.