Mediscare
Coming a bit ahead of schedule.
I thought it would be saved for September, but it’s about to happen. Perhaps Obama’s run out of other lines of attack, or perhaps there’s a different strategy for the fall. Anyway, now we have the predictable one:
…[T]oday when Obama begins a two-day swing through the crucial state of Florida — with all of its seniors — he’ll introduce another attack: hitting Romney on Medicare and the Ryan budget. Per the campaign, the president “will discuss his commitment to strengthening Medicare, and a new report tomorrow that highlights the devastating impact Mitt Romney’s Medicare plan could have on the 3.4 million Floridians that rely on Medicare.” Bottom line, per the campaign’s guidance: Obama will argue that Romney — through his support for the Ryan budget plan — advocates ending Medicare “as we know it.”
Welllll, in a certain sense we MUST end “medicare as we know it” — or else it will go kaboom (or maybe kerwhooosh, if it’s only a slow fizzle), . . .
because “medicare as we know it” is (hear this, populace?) UNSUSTAINABLE in the long run.
Pretty soon you run out of other people’s money, and all that. With the population getting older and wheezier, and so many of the youngsters remaining underemployed, we errrr, . . . got a problem on our hands, and this is no time for pandering. (But for the Democrat side, it’s always time for pandering.)
His so-called “health care reform” includes “Mediscare.” It may just be a matter of perspective, but Obamacare also does not address causal contributors to ever-increasing costs of medical service and product provision. It only kicks the can down the road in order to temporarily ingratiate himself with the opportunists, vulnerable individuals, and illegal aliens.
Obamacare is based upon stealing at least 500 billion from Medicare. “You’re old and you need an organ transplant? Take a pain pill and STFU.”
However, there is a positive point to all of this. The Death Panels will be disposing of the elderly on a 24/7 basis, so Medicare costs will decline.
Evaluate ’em, condemn ’em, bury ’em.
Ain’t socialism grand?
It occurred to me just now that the old mediscare routine got started when a lot of today’s seniors were in their 30’s and 40’s. It’s at least as old as the Carter/Reagan campaign and probably older. I would think that any seniors still of solid mind would not be as influenced by this as they might have been 20 years ago since they’ve seen it and likely dismissed it so many times in their youth. Or maybe not. Old age might make some folks scared no matter what their rational mind tells them. sigh..
The ACA does intend to reduce Medicare Advantage coverage.That’s the $500 billion savings in Medicare. Many people who have been getting that extra coverage from HMOs will either have to pay more or go back on standard Medicare, which has less coverage.
Before my old company declared bankruptcy they paid for my Medicare Advantage. It was nice. It even paid for my gym membership. After bankruptcy the company would no longer pay for it, but offered to continue coverage if I paid a premium of $590/month. Since my gym membership was somewhat less than that and I was eligible for Tricare For Life, I switched to TFL for my secondary coverage. Right now I’m paying $99.40/month for Medicare and Tricare, thus far, is free. However, the DOD wants to change that and probably will start making we veterans pay some kind of premiums in the near future.
Those people who are on Medicare Advantage are going to be a bit unhappy when the change occurs, which is in 2013/14 (after the election), I believe. Reason enough to hope Obamacare is repealed and to vote for Romney.
Many of my old codger acquaintances have a belief that both Social Security and Medicare are iron clad contracts. I had that same belief about my company pension. Well, contracts can be broken – especially when one party can no longer perform. That was what I learned from being party to a bankruptcy. When the money runs low, the courts will divide what’s there among the benficiaries. What you thought was owed to you suddenly became quite a bit less.
Those facts are why anyone who wants to look at reality knows that the Feds have got to get “entitlements” and discretionary spending under control. If they don’t, the citizens who thought they had a contract are in for a rude awakening. Of course, the Republicans cannot get that across to them. They don’t want to hear it.
That’s why people should vote for candidates who will try to rein in spending. But they won’t. They’re like horses – easy to scare and not that much common sense.
Did anyone else get a notice from their insurance company that their premiums are about to increase by 29% to 35%???
The opening salvo has been fired. . . .
My HMO switched about a year ago to covering only 80% of things, while still restricting provider choice. I have thousands in medical bills now; when I had an operation in 2010 with the same insurance company, I paid a $1000 deductible and they paid the rest.
“This deal is getting worse all the time. . . .” — Lando Calrissian
Medicare as we know it will end our financial stability as we know it and burden the next generations with crushing debt and a lower standard of living. But the old people will be long gone by that point, so what do they care?
What’s equally amusing is the canard going around that the R’s pulled out of Bowles-Simpson and it was the President who was really trying to make a compromise there. Really? And now replacing fee for service benefits with a voucher to curtail spending is “ending Medicare as we know it.” What a hack.
What I don’t understand here is that Romney/Ryan has the perfect rejoinder to complaints about ending “Medicare as we know it.”
“Folks, it’s either this, or your children won’t be able to have any kind of Medicare at all!”
Come on! Do it for the children!
What?
What do you mean, that only works when Democrats say it?
Oh, never mind…