Keep Your Hands Off of My (Son's) Medicare!

Who Is Really Going to Trash Medicare?

Last year during the health care debate, the Republicans were able to convince many older people that the Dems were going to change or trash Medicare.  They had oldsters holding signs that said, "Keep Your Hands Off of My Medicare!".  

Well now, a year later, the Republicans are actually the guys proposing to dismantle Medicare, as laid out in Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan's latest budget.  I'm not surprised; are you?    

They are saying things like, "We are in a terrible, terrible financial situation.  We need to change Medicare to save it!  This change will guarantee that Medicare will still be there for our children and grandchildren!"  Don't believe one bit of this; this is the dismantling of Medicare, not the saving of it.  

The Republican voucher plan will guarantee that Medicare isn't there for our children and grandchildren.. because it will be gone!  Be honest people, what kind of health care do you think you are going to be able to buy with a voucher when you are 80? 

Do you think the insurers are going to be running after you to provide you with more and better services that you can afford with your increasingly insignificant voucher?  It's not even going to be indexed to the rise in the cost of health care, and it is unclear whether the government, in its free market frenzy, would force the insurance companies to offer decent plans with affordable copays to seniors.

They are Buying off Current Seniors and Baby-Boomers

Now, Medicare will be allowed for those who are 55 and over.  I guess we older Baby Boomers are supposed to offer thanks to the Republican Gods for sparing us these vouchers?  Let's be honest:  They are trying to buy off the current seniors and the Baby Boomers by offering them Medicare while our kids and grandkids gets the shaft. 

Those of us who are older need to take a good look at our young'uns. Life is not easy out there now, and I would hate to have my son and others of his generation tossed out of work, after working much lousier jobs than we worked, at 50 or 55 or 60, trying to survive without health care or any benefits for a decade or more, then getting these lousy worthless vouchers. 

When they raised the retirement age in the 80's...

We need the younger people to realize that you don't stay young forever.  When they raised the retirement age a couple of decades back in the 80s, few Baby Boomers made a peep because we were strong, young, healthy, and thought we would keep our high-payin

­g jobs forever. Hah!  

Now many Baby Boomers have been hit hard by the recession.  Some are among the saddest victims.  These older people in their 50's and 60's have been tossed out of work after decades of fruitful labor.  Many are experiencing long-term unemployment; many have gone through their savings and 401K's and don't have health insurance. 

Those extra years until full retirement are weighing heavily on many of us.  Retiring with full benefits at 65 is now just a dream.

Look, we are not a poor country.  We have more billionaires in this country than anywhere else, three times as many as China.  We have a guy who pulled down 4.9 billion dollars in income last year!  We still have one of the highest per capita GDP's in the world; there is no reason we can't afford decent health care and a dignified retirement for everybody.

Those "socialized" Europeans are catching up with us in terms of GDP, and they have surpassed us in providing needed services to their people. 

Time to take a long look at what we are doing wrong.

We CAN afford retirement with dignity for all of our citizens if we make it a priority!

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Update, Friday, April 29, 2011

Congress is on a two-week recess, and many Congresspeople are holding town hall and "Congress on your corrner" events.  Here's how some Republicans are handling the questions they are getting from constituents:

 In Pennsylvania, freshman Lou Barletta was rebuked by a 64-year-old woman who wanted to know why he backed “a plan that will destroy Medicare.” 

Barletta replied, “I won’t destroy Medicare,” Barletta responded. “Medicare is going to be destroyed by itself.”  Sure it is, Lou, sure it is.  I hope people saw through that.      

Read more at the Time Swampland blog about these meetings 

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Update, Wednesday, May 25, 2011

In case you missed it, a Georgia representative gave his constituents a lecture on "personal responsibility" at a recent townhall event.  A constituent brought up some of the shortcoming of private health care, particularly when we retire, and he chided her:  

Hear yourself, ma'am. Hear yourself," Woodall told the woman. "You want the government to take care of you, because your employer decided not to take care of you. My question is, 'When do I decide I'm going to take care of me?'"

Meanwhile, this guy is pulling down a pretty buck on the "Gov'ment's" dime.

Hypocrisy, thy name is "Republican".

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Here's an article published at TruthOut which was written about the same time I wrote the above article, in mid 2011.  Well worth a read, and, though the extreme threat of Republicans getting rid of Medicare has abated, the basic issue is still the same:

Been to a Nursing Home Lately?