GOP braces for Medicare blowback

GOP braces for Medicare blowback

This week, an off-year special election in Buffalo and a purely symbolic vote in the Senate might tell Republicans all they need to know about the mercurial politics of Medicare reform. First up is New York’s 26th District in a special election Tuesday. If Democrat Kathy Hochul wins — she is leading by 4 to 6 points in the latest polls — it not only would be a setback for House Republicans but would send a message to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his key lieutenants that their Medicare overhaul plan could become a serious political liability.

And on the Senate floor later this week, Democrats are planning to force a vote on the 2012 budget proposal offered by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Democrats want to put Senate Republicans on the record voting for — or against — the Ryan proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher program for seniors. Already, a few moderate Republicans — the latest being Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have bailed on it or look ready to jump.

For Democrats, these crystallizing moments would affirm that their Medicare-centric attacks are working — and that they’re on the popular side of a major policy issue, maybe for the first time since the rise of the tea party movement two years ago. For moderate and vulnerable Republicans, these events have the potential to create a lot of hand-wringing and second-guessing for a party that’s been on a roll.

news.yahoo.com...

Among those Senate Republicans who will vote in favor of privatizing Medicare and putting our seniors on vouchers....Dick Luger and Mitch McConnell...Senate Minority leader.

I don't see why they are doing this as they will face political peril...especially Luger. Anyone who voted for the Ryan health care plan should be voted out of office as soon as election time rolls around.

This is the workings of a complete disaster for Republicans especially since they actually passed this in the House...and quite frankly they deserve it.

Added:

All but 4 Republicans in the House of Reps. vote FOR privatizing Medicare...while at the same time giving more tax cuts to billionaires and corporations. This vote happened on Apr. 15th.

here is the vote...now they have to OWN IT:

www.govtrack.us...

Finally, hopefully, maybe the American people see through the anti-human Republican Party, as they destroy themselves with this kill Medicare lunacy. These maniacs, thanks to the fanatic Paul Ryan, are going down if the American people keep their resolve and do throw them ALL out of office!
The special congressional race in New York, a heavy Republican district, has just been won by a democrat! I hope this is something that will happen all over the country.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Are you you talking about medicare or medicaid? I'm confused here.

www.businessinsider.com...

www.latimes.com...

Ah, yes. The famous New York 26 is the first sign of the blowback.

Republicans have a choice ahead of them, push forward with the Ryan plan, or break away.

Whatever occurs, the Republican party will be split in ideology. They will begin to eat each other alive. It will be quite a show to bear witness to. You see, the thing is, Reid is pushing for a vote in the Senate by Thursday on this issue. content.usatoday.com...

The Republicans are being forced to make a choice. This choice will split the party. As if weak and politically ineffective candidates for 2012 wasn't enough of a shocker, we will see the worst inparty strife in modern American politics. Santorum telling McCain he didn't understand torture was interesting. The Tea Party versus the Republican Establishment was fascinating. The religious right versus the moderate right was intriguing. Now...now...is the time for the battle that will spell out the end of the Republican party.

If you think I'm being histrionic in my predictions, I'll tell you to wait and to watch. Watch the party fall to its knees, and watch as conservatism (doesn't matter which party or place on earth) once again falls to the constant evolutionary progress of mankind.

Originally posted by inforeal
Finally, hopefully, maybe the American people see through the anti-human Republican Party, as they destroy themselves with this kill Medicare lunacy. These maniacs, thanks to the fanatic Paul Ryan, are going down if the American people keep their resolve and do throw them ALL out of office!
The special congressional race in New York, a heavy Republican district, has just been won by a democrat! I hope this is something that will happen all over the country.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

I'm not a fan of the current Democratic party but I can't stand the Republicans so if this means even more of a loss for them I hope they follow through on their Medicare stance. Pretty much every poll shows Republicans are completely out of touch with the vast majority of Americans on this issue.

Paul Ryan's proposal is just awful. How anyone can think this numbnuts is looking out for the best interests of the average person is beyond me.

My father votes Republican straight down the line every election....he is also on both Social Security and Medicare. He's told me numerous times if they touch it he won't vote for them again. It's all he has to live on.

My father watches nothing but Fox News and is very conservative...and if he's turning on Republicans then I'm guessing many will.

reply to post by brilab45


wonkette.com...

reply to post by David9176


It seems the GOP wants to self destruct. They had a great anti Obama trend going and they just blew it. Their slavishness to big pharma, oil companies, HMOs, Insurance corps, and fascist big business just gave the dembs all the ammunition they need to destroy the gop. They won't be able to campaign....just damage control and make excuses for their dumbass statements.

Old people are a huge voting block and they vote always in selfintrest.

My elderly, Baptist, rightwing conservative mother just used words I've never heard her use in describing the new Republican party that has emerged.

reply to post by origamiandurbanism


I keep saying to you people it’s not a question of loving democrats, its a question of the issues.
And when a whole party wants to practically threaten the very livelihood of millions of our vulnerable Americans, than the lesser of two evils must be invoked massively.

There is so many other more human ways to balances the budget, Clinton did it without destroying Medicare, it could be done again by raising taxes on the rich and cutting the defense budget.

Maybe they thought that health care vouchers would be popular with conservatives in the same way school vouchers (and the dismantling of the public school system) seem to be popular with them but people seem to have educated themselves on this subject and it's a no go. It's pretty clear to me the Ryan plan was an insult and a threat to many people's lives and well being. When they show you how much they don't give a !@#$ about health care of the average citizen or the elderly, believe them.

Originally posted by whaaa
My elderly, Baptist, rightwing conservative mother just used words I've never heard her use in describing the new Republican party that has emerged.

Don't ya love it when that happens? My gentle elderly German mother made my jaw drop when she made a similar reference to the Right Honourable Minister of Finance ( a Tory). God bless'em!

Look at what Republicans did to Newt Gingrich for calling Ryan's plan radical...they destroyed him. I don't like Newt Gingrich AT ALL...but he's right that privatizing medicare is too radical and he was basically trying to speak to independents. He knows that any Republican candidate backing that plan will not win a seat or re-election...and certainly not become President. Really this plan may have severely damaged the Republican party.

And this is exactly why RON PAUL will never be President as he ideologically against both Social Security and Medicare...and he's not afraid to say it.

Originally posted by TheOneElectric
watch as conservatism (doesn't matter which party or place on earth) once again falls to the constant evolutionary progress of mankind.

I must correct you here. Conservatism is neither universal in principle, application, or ideology. In addition to that stated it must also be made clear that what we here in America call Conservatism is in the rest of Western nations considered a variant of Liberalism or Individualism. The United States has never had a truly conservative tradition; belief in agrarianism, tradition, intersecting spheres of unity, classicism and high culture, natural law and transcendent moral order, hierarchy and organic unity.

The Republican Party is one of Classical liberalism and Social conservatism, which neither alone nor combined create true philosophical conservatism. When speaking of American Conservatives you are actually speaking of members of the Liberal school of Individualism, albeit different than the liberalism you are accustomed to thanks to the media, and are not intellectual, philosophical, or ideological conservatives.

So when hoping for the demise of conservatism both domestically and internationally you must not confuse the modern definition of ‘conservatism’, which has been espoused since the rise of Neo-liberal economics in the 1980s by modern ‘conservative’ political parties, with the legitimate conservatism which still is embedded in human culture, society, and identity.

I am a philosophical Conservative and let me state first and foremost that the Republican Party may be the closest to me ideologically but that does not me we whistle to the same tune.

To the OP:

Do not expect this budget of Paul Ryan’s to pass because I doubt the Republicans have the votes to squeak it through, even in the House. The moderate Republicans may be silenced but there still are a few of them left. Those from the Northeast would be wise to think twice before voting as they will surely be the first to go in 2012.

Besides the GOP relies heavily on the vote of seniors they cannot stand to lose such a significant voting block for their party to the Democrats.

reply to post by David9176


That's true. If a politician decides to alter the entitlements of the elderly in this nation, then they can kiss their positions goodbye.

You see, the thing is, our culture has changed. Families don't house the elderly anymore, and the style of work (the 9 - 5s) for decades ruins their bodies and health. They don't have anything to care for them except the little savings they have, medicare, and social security.

There are places in the budget that should be re-appropriated, but attempting to harm the elderly is just wrong.

reply to post by Misoir

Do not expect this budget of Paul Ryan’s to pass because I doubt the Republicans have the votes to squeak it through, even in the House.

It already passed the House (which is unbelievable if you think about it)....it will fail in the Senate however...definitely not enough votes...and even so Obama would veto.

However, the votes are out there and they are on the record...and this will scare many from voting in Republican majorities this coming election.

Medicare and medicade should be off limits. How many folks would be affected by this?

No...not you personally, but how about your grandparents or other disabled folks in your family? They paid into it! Jesus to beesuz......I would be so offended to watch my grand parents suffer from lack of adequate benefits.

Imagine your grandma needing her heart medicines? I am bereft at the lack of humanity we have become. Please come "oh" spiritual one........we need you!

No one cares, yet we have the ability to lengthen the lives of the ones we love. Yet there is such a lack of true loving beings.

WTF?



S& F for awareness

reply to post by TheOneElectric

That's true. If a politician decides to alter the entitlements of the elderly in this nation, then they can kiss their positions goodbye.

You see, the thing is, our culture has changed. Families don't house the elderly anymore, and the style of work (the 9 - 5s) for decades ruins their bodies and health. They don't have anything to care for them except the little savings they have, medicare, and social security.

There are places in the budget that should be re-appropriated, but attempting to harm the elderly is just wrong.

Absolutely agree. My father is here today because of Medicare after successfully beating prostate cancer...and I know there are many out there who can say the same.

All but 4 Republicans in the House of Reps. vote FOR privatizing Medicare...while at the same time giving more tax cuts to billionaires and corporations.

here is the vote...now they have to OWN IT:

www.govtrack.us...

(added this to OP)

Who ended 'Medicare as we know it'?


By BETSY MCCAUGHEY May 24, 2011

In today's special election for the 26th district US House seat in western New York, Democrats are trying out a tactic they're sure to use nationwide in 2012 -- the obscenely false claim that they will save "Medicare as we know it" from Republican efforts to reform it.

The truth is, the Obama health law, passed by Democrats last year, already eviscerated Medicare -- though seniors won't feel the effects for some time. And the reform plan Democrats are attacking -- Rep. Paul Ryan's entitlement-reform vision -- would undo much of the damage, while charting a new course to ensure Medicare doesn't run out of money.

"Medicare as we know it" can't survive ObamaCare's cuts of $575 billion from the program's funding over the next decade. Just as outrageous is that the Obama law stole $410 billion of those "savings" to expand eligibility for Medicaid.

It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul -- but it's robbing Grandma to create a whole new class of government dependants.

The nation needs to spend less on government, and entitlement reform is key. Instead, the ObamaCare law starts new entitlements -- with its vast expansion of Medicaid and a new insurance program for the middle class -- then imposes sacrifices on seniors to (partly) pay for these new obligations.

The administration's own actuaries say Medicare will spend $14,731 per senior in 2019, instead of $16,162 if the health law hadn't passed. That's less care for seniors. Richard Foster, the chief actuary for Medicare, testified to Congress that the Obama law makes such severe cuts that some hospitals may stop taking Medicare.

Such cuts might be justifiable if the "savings" extended Medicare's financial life, as President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius often claim. In fact, the Obama law just pays less to those who treat Medicare patients, then uses the cash for something else entirely. Raiding Medicare leaves less money to care for future retirees.

So what can that next generation, retiring a decade from now, count on? The Obama law puts those decision in the hands of an unelected board called the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB -- a cost-cutting panel.

The board is a radical departure from Medicare as we've known it. On the pretext that budgeting decisions should be shielded from outraged seniors and political pressures, the Democratic Congress handed nearly all control of Medicare spending to IPAB. In April, the president reiterated that the board would decide what care is "unnecessary" for seniors, and added that he wants its unprecedented powers increased.
Last week, Obama indicated that he'd like to reduce the deficit by taking another $200 billion from Medicare over the next decade. That would be IPAB's job, too.
Yet IPAB is drawing fire from many who pushed hard for the ObamaCare law -- including the AARP and Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.).
Ryan's reform, passed by House Republicans early this year, would repeal the ObamaCare law in full, thereby restoring the $575 stolen from Medicare and ending IPAB. But, to keep the program sustainable in the decades ahead, the Ryan plan would (starting in 2022) give each new Medicare enrollee a choice of private health plans and pay a premium to the policy chosen. He argues that seniors would be safer choosing their own health plan rather than putting their care in the hands of the cost-cutting IPAB panel.
Let's hope voters examine the plain facts -- because one thing is clear: Obama and the Democratic Party are not saving Medicare "as we know it."
Visit the New York Post to read more.

Deny Ignorance.

Originally posted by inforeal
reply to post by origamiandurbanism

 

I keep saying to you people it’s not a question of loving democrats, its a question of the issues.
And when a whole party wants to practically threaten the very livelihood of millions of our vulnerable Americans, than the lesser of two evils must be invoked massively.

There is so many other more human ways to balances the budget, Clinton did it without destroying Medicare, it could be done again by raising taxes on the rich and cutting the defense budget.

I agree. It's just a sad state of affairs in this country when the two choices that are continually given to the people are pretty bad (unless you're rich or like an ineffectually run government). Revolution is needed badly.

Most of the Republicans in office right now are scumbags. Scumbags that are for more tax cuts for the wealthy while telling everyone else that it's time to "tighten the belt". Scumbags that call Medicare an "entitlement program" that needs to be privatized to benefit corporations and not the people. At least most people aren't falling for this one for once. That's good to see.