Rookie Rep.Chris Gibson voted to kill Medicare, and substitute a voucher program that will impoverish future seniors.
Gibson has dutifully lied that he voted to "preserve and protect" Medicare by killing it, and he has also lied, at every opportunity, that the Ryan/Boehner Republican plan to kill Medicare would have no impact on current (and some future) Medicare beneficiaries.
Gibson knows next to nothing about Medicare, and is only repeating Boehner/Ryan talking points on how to lie to his constituents.
Unlike Gibson, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.does know quite a bit about Medicare.
Also unlike Gibson, Sebelius is not a serial liar.
Sebelius noted today that the Ryan/Boehner Republican plan to kill Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act, will indeed affect current beneficiaries:
"The Affordable Care Act takes a huge step in closing the donut hole, 50 percent this year of the cost of drugs purchased in the coverage gap would disappear, and over time the whole coverage gap would disappear. Seniors now qualify for screenings -- cancer screenings, mammograms, a variety of preventive care without copays out of pocket. That would disappear."
So, current Medicare beneficiaries would pay a lot more for drugs and preventive care under the Ryan/Boehner Republican plan to kill Medicare.
But, naturally, seniors of limited means who rely on Medicaid and Medicare will suffer more -- that's the Republican way.
The Medicaid cuts in the Ryan/Boehner budget would affect poor seniors immediately, according to Sebelius:
"Medicaid cuts would start right away, so those seniors would be the first to be impacted. The voucher plan doesn't hit for 10 years, but not only do the new benefits for every senior go away, but the dually-qualified seniors -- the poorest, oldest, sickest seniors, who are often in nursing homes, would have their benefits cut immediately."
The Ryan/Boehner Republican budget that Gibson supports and lies 24/7 about will not become law, because there is a Democratic Senate and President, for now.
But Gibson's constituents must be reminded that he voted to kill Medicare via a voucher system he said he opposed during the campaign.
And that, coupled with his vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Gibson supports today's seniors paying a lot more for their health care.
Gibson will surely lie a lot more about his plan to kill Medicare, cripple Medicaid, and screw current and future seniors from now until Nov. 6, 2012.
He should be called on it every time.
Gibson would have more credibility if, as he voted to cut Medicare, he also voted to cut the health benefits he receives as a member of Congress and as a retired armed services member. While he's at it he should also cut his military pension when he votes to destroy Social Security. And how about the cost of his Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees - is he paying that back when he votes to cut federal student aid?
ReplyDeleteThe point is that government benefits rightly provide for those who have served their country, for those who have worked hard their whole lives at pensionless jobs contributing to these benefits and for those who cannot afford the exorbitant cost of good health insurance. Its easy to gore someone else's ox when yours gets off scot free!
The GOP propaganda is stating falsely that no one wants to kill medicare.
ReplyDeleteMany Tea Party and Republicans openly advocated for eliminating medicare!
Michelle Bachmann has openly advocated for the immediate elimination of medicare and social security. So did O'Donnell in Delaware and Sharon Angle in Nevada.
Tea party Rep. Chris Gibson wants to ELIMINATE Medicare.
The proposal of a voucher that pays $8,000 a year for medical insurance means that large numbers of elderly Americans will be paying 50% or more of their income for that insurance, requiring them to pay $10,000 or more out of their own pockets for health care.
One more idea that doesn’t get much support is House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) proposal to transform Medicare into a modified voucher program, with 65 percent of those surveyed opposed and 34 percent supporting it.
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/04/politico-poll-tax-hike-medicare-cuts
I can't claim to have done a comprehensive survey, but all the Democrats I know think that they were handed the political gift of lifetime, as Representative Ryan has explicitly proposed doing exactly what Democrats have accused Republicans of wanting to do for decades: eliminate health care programs that are essential for middle class workers in order to give more money to their wealthy contributors. http://seekingalpha.com/article/262604-cutting-medicare-medicaid-would-cost-more-than-health-care-reform-law