fresh voices from the front lines of change

Democracy

Health

Climate

Housing

Education

Rural

House Republicans won't give up on their efforts to voucher-ize Medicare. In fact, Representative Paul Ryan now wants to make it happen even sooner. As the House GOP is currently preparing their new budget, which will include Ryan's Medicare voucher program, and they think it should now apply a year earlier than planned. In the past, Ryan and fellow Republicans have said any changes to Medicare wouldn't effect people 55 and older, but now they want to make the cut off to age 56.

Republicans say they would give people the option of enrolling in traditional Medicare, or accepting a voucher towards the cost of a private plan, but that so-called choice is a sly attempt to destroy senior's guaranteed health coverage. The only people who would opt for a voucher are seniors with few health concerns, and who don't cost much to insure. Seniors who can't afford to pay the difference in premiums, and those with greater health concerns, wouldn't have the option of selecting a private insurance company.

This means Medicare would be responsible for seniors who need the most expensive care, and couldn't off-set those costs with a pool of healthier individuals. With less money coming in, and the burden of covering those who require the most care, eventually the program would default. And that's exactly what Paul Ryan and House Republicans want.

Last time Ryan proposed this voucher plan, poll-after-poll showed Americans didn't approve, but that isn't stopping him from pushing his privatization efforts again. We must make sure he doesn't succeed. Call Congress now and tell them to stop Paul Ryan from destroying Medicare

Pin It on Pinterest

Spread The Word!

Share this post with your networks.