Medicare

[SpidermanTuba]

How come Republicans have never proposed a bill to repeal medicare? Medicare is not in the Constitution. The Republicans held Congress for most of 6 years while Bush was in office, yet they didn't bother to do a single thing to rid America of this unconstitutional communist blight.

HYPOCRITES

Actually, they introduced a bill earlier this year to get rid of it.

Why did they wait so long? Why didn't they do it when they had power? Just slipped their minds?

 

[SpidermanTuba]

Medicare is very popular, its another "3rd-rail". Too bad the DC clowns can't figure out how to keep it solvent. That may be the GOP plan...let it go bankrupt.

Do they keep their plans secret?

 

[SpidermanTuba]

It already is bankrupt.....the Congress borrows the left over money after paying benefits instead of locking the money up.

So seniors no longer get their medical care?

 

[SpidermanTuba]

Why, exactly do you think SSA has had to INCREASE the retirement age of all persons paying into the system with a birthday after 1960?

People are living longer.

They also have longer years of productive work than before.

Its OK, living longer is good.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

That's a lot of replies.

Still, no answer.


Why haven't the Republicans tried to repeal Medicare before? Its not in the Constitution, so certainly they didn't just wake up yesterday and realize this. They have always been against it, right? Wouldn't it be unpatriotic of them to want to take our country away from us with government run medicine for seniors?


Or does the Constitution only prohibit the government from providing the middle aged and middle class with health care? If so, where does it say this?

 

[kyzr]

Why haven't the Republicans tried to repeal Medicare before? Its not in the Constitution, so certainly they didn't just wake up yesterday and realize this. They have always been against it, right? Wouldn't it be unpatriotic of them to want to take our country away from us with government run medicine for seniors? Or does the Constitution only prohibit the government from providing the middle aged and middle class with health care? If so, where does it say this?

Medicare will be bankrupt in 2017. It owes about $37Trillion in benefits to those of us who paid into it all our working lives. Obama and the dems need to make Medicare solvent, not add more entitlements to it.

If Medicare goes bankrupt what happens to healthcare for the seniors and the poor?

 

[Polk]

True...but a if you have 2 programs running billions of dollars in the red and place them into one huge program you still have a net loss. What I'm driving at is we are going to see significant tax hikes across the income spectrum.

...and ultimately: FAILURE! The only solution that will work is a free market solution. The small part that the free market is involved in the Part-D prescription drug benefit - twenty five percent - has made that plan come in below CBO cost estimates. And our friends the liberals don't like it, indeed hate it, maily because the drug companies and the insurance companies are getting paid for and making a profit for producing products that in their world "should be free"

Except that the plan hasn't come in below estimates. The estimates were revised upward at one point, but the plan is costing almost exactly what the original estimates said it would.

 

[Polk]

Why haven't the Republicans tried to repeal Medicare before? Its not in the Constitution, so certainly they didn't just wake up yesterday and realize this. They have always been against it, right? Wouldn't it be unpatriotic of them to want to take our country away from us with government run medicine for seniors? Or does the Constitution only prohibit the government from providing the middle aged and middle class with health care? If so, where does it say this?

Medicare will be bankrupt in 2017. It owes about $37Trillion in benefits to those of us who paid into it all our working lives. Obama and the dems need to make Medicare solvent, not add more entitlements to it.

If Medicare goes bankrupt what happens to healthcare for the seniors and the poor?

Two things:
1. The only way to make Medicare solvent is to reduce health care costs.
2. Medicare doesn't provide coverage for the poor.

 

[American Horse]

True...but a if you have 2 programs running billions of dollars in the red and place them into one huge program you still have a net loss. What I'm driving at is we are going to see significant tax hikes across the income spectrum.

...and ultimately: FAILURE! The only solution that will work is a free market solution. The small part that the free market is involved in the Part-D prescription drug benefit - twenty five percent - has made that plan come in below CBO cost estimates. And our friends the liberals don't like it, indeed hate it, maily because the drug companies and the insurance companies are getting paid for and making a profit for producing products that in their world "should be free"

Except that the plan hasn't come in below estimates. The estimates were revised upward at one point, but the plan is costing almost exactly what the original estimates said it would.

Ok...let's stipulate what you say is correct (and I'll check more on that); for that to happen is actually unheard of.

 

[ihopehefails]

How come Republicans have never proposed a bill to repeal medicare? Medicare is not in the Constitution. The Republicans held Congress for most of 6 years while Bush was in office, yet they didn't bother to do a single thing to rid America of this unconstitutional communist blight.

HYPOCRITES

Because no one wants to but on the other hand someone could challenge the program in court and actually have it nullified out of existence because I doubt any politician will do it for fear of losing senior votes.

 

[kyzr]

Why haven't the Republicans tried to repeal Medicare before? Its not in the Constitution, so certainly they didn't just wake up yesterday and realize this. They have always been against it, right? Wouldn't it be unpatriotic of them to want to take our country away from us with government run medicine for seniors? Or does the Constitution only prohibit the government from providing the middle aged and middle class with health care? If so, where does it say this?

Medicare will be bankrupt in 2017. It owes about $37Trillion in benefits to those of us who paid into it all our working lives. Obama and the dems need to make Medicare solvent, not add more entitlements to it. If Medicare goes bankrupt what happens to healthcare for the seniors and the poor?

Two things:
1. The only way to make Medicare solvent is to reduce health care costs.
2. Medicare doesn't provide coverage for the poor.

1. The only way to reduce healthcare costs is to ration medical care. Currently 24% of medical resources are spent on the dying, and 50% of medical resources are spent on about the sickest 5% of the population. So who gets denied care? (costs are fixed, doctors, nurses, medicines, etc can't be lowered unless you start using Obama's "affirmative action" witch-doctors)

2. Okay "Medicare" doesn't cover the young poor, "Medicaid" does. Medicare does cover the poor elderly.
Medicaid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.ssa.gov/history/pdf/RowlandandLyons.pdf

 

[shane]

Any politician trying to eliminate healthcare would in a sense be creating political suicide. Also medicare though it is costly, is needed in today's society. So many people have implemented this into their everyday lives to take it away. But who is stoping us from reforming it and filtering out the corruption in medicare? We will never fully stop corruption, but it's a generous thought.
Another thought is i believe with medicare we treat American's way better than any communist program you may be thinking of.
Just food for thought.

Shane

 

[Polk]

...and ultimately: FAILURE! The only solution that will work is a free market solution. The small part that the free market is involved in the Part-D prescription drug benefit - twenty five percent - has made that plan come in below CBO cost estimates. And our friends the liberals don't like it, indeed hate it, maily because the drug companies and the insurance companies are getting paid for and making a profit for producing products that in their world "should be free"

Except that the plan hasn't come in below estimates. The estimates were revised upward at one point, but the plan is costing almost exactly what the original estimates said it would.

Ok...let's stipulate what you say is correct (and I'll check more on that); for that to happen is actually unheard of.

The Bush administration was claimed last year (and these are the most recent numbers I've encountered) that the ten year cost was 395 billion

While premiums are increasing, projected spending is less than expected, said Jeff Nelligan, a Medicare spokesman. The 10-year cost of the drug subsidy program, originally estimated at $634 billion, has been revised to about $395 million, Nelligan said Thursday in a telephone interview.

Medicare drug program price rising, but it's far less costly than expected | www.azstarnet.com ®

The original cost estimate was 400 billion.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Monday signed into law landmark Medicare reform legislation that includes prescription drug benefits and has sparked a bitter fight between opponents and supporters.

Speaking at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, Bush characterized the measure as "the greatest advance in health care coverage for America's seniors since the founding of Medicare."

Backers say the $400 billion Medicare Prescription Drug Modernization Act will provide much-needed help for the nation's 40 million senior citizens to buy medications; critics say it is a giveaway to drug makers and insurance companies and a prelude to the dismantling of the program.

CNN.com - Bush signs landmark Medicare bill into law - Dec. 8, 2003

 

[Polk]

Medicare will be bankrupt in 2017. It owes about $37Trillion in benefits to those of us who paid into it all our working lives. Obama and the dems need to make Medicare solvent, not add more entitlements to it. If Medicare goes bankrupt what happens to healthcare for the seniors and the poor?

Two things:
1. The only way to make Medicare solvent is to reduce health care costs.
2. Medicare doesn't provide coverage for the poor.

1. The only way to reduce healthcare costs is to ration medical care. Currently 24% of medical resources are spent on the dying, and 50% of medical resources are spent on about the sickest 5% of the population. So who gets denied care? (costs are fixed, doctors, nurses, medicines, etc can't be lowered unless you start using Obama's "affirmative action" witch-doctors)

This is one of the most absurd parts of this debate. For starters, it assumes care isn't rationed already. Additionally, it assumes that people want to incur a lot of medical expenses. The reality is more complicated. If people know they're in their end stage and are able to make rational decisions about treatment options, they make the choice they feel more comfortable with and is easier on their families instead of having doctors just plug and chug anything possible, increasing costs in the process.

2. Okay "Medicare" doesn't cover the young poor, "Medicaid" does. Medicare does cover the poor elderly.
Medicaid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.ssa.gov/history/pdf/RowlandandLyons.pdf

Yet again, you're wrong. Medicare doesn't cover "the young poor", unless you think children and pregnant women are the only people who can be poor.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

Any politician trying to eliminate healthcare would in a sense be creating political suicide. Also medicare though it is costly, is needed in today's society. So many people have implemented this into their everyday lives to take it away. But who is stoping us from reforming it and filtering out the corruption in medicare? We will never fully stop corruption, but it's a generous thought.
Another thought is i believe with medicare we treat American's way better than any communist program you may be thinking of.
Just food for thought.

Shane

Am I to take it that

A) Republicans are against Medicare, since its not in the Constitution
B) But they lake principle, and therefore choose not to fight it (even though it is Socialism and is destroying our country just like any socialism would) to save their own hide?
C) Therefore - Republicans are cowards, instead of hypocrites?

 

[kyzr]

Am I to take it that

A) Republicans are against Medicare, since its not in the Constitution
B) But they lake principle, and therefore choose not to fight it (even though it is Socialism and is destroying our country just like any socialism would) to save their own hide?
C) Therefore - Republicans are cowards, instead of hypocrites?

No, its actually

A) Democrats are for entitlements, any way they can get something for nothing
B) they LACK principles, such as self-reliance and family values
C) Therefore democrats are just stupid, instead of socialists?! They have no clue how excessive entitlements can explode the Debt and destroy the US economy.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

A) Democrats are for entitlements, any way they can get something for nothing

And Republicans are against entitlements, they just lack the courage to do anything about it

B) they LACK principles, such as self-reliance and family values

Family values? Talk to David Vitter about family values.

C) Therefore democrats are just stupid, instead of socialists?! They have no clue how excessive entitlements can explode the Debt and destroy the US economy.

And Republicans know full well what those things will do, they just refuse to stop it.

 

[Care4all]

...and ultimately: FAILURE! The only solution that will work is a free market solution. The small part that the free market is involved in the Part-D prescription drug benefit - twenty five percent - has made that plan come in below CBO cost estimates. And our friends the liberals don't like it, indeed hate it, maily because the drug companies and the insurance companies are getting paid for and making a profit for producing products that in their world "should be free"

Except that the plan hasn't come in below estimates. The estimates were revised upward at one point, but the plan is costing almost exactly what the original estimates said it would.

Ok...let's stipulate what you say is correct (and I'll check more on that); for that to happen is actually unheard of.

actually it is double or triple the initial estimates...

the republicans lied and said it was an estimated $400 billion for 10 years...the government CBO actuary estimated it at $580 billion but the republicans THREATENED TO FIRE HIM if he came forward and told congress the truth...so when congress voted on the medicare pill bill the money the repub's leadership told congress it would be is $400 billion....

I believe it is more on the lines of a trillion for 10 years, but i will have to check.

regardless, estimates, no matter the area...whether military projects or the pill bill, always seem to be low estimates.

 

[NYcarbineer]

How come Republicans have never proposed a bill to repeal medicare? Medicare is not in the Constitution. The Republicans held Congress for most of 6 years while Bush was in office, yet they didn't bother to do a single thing to rid America of this unconstitutional communist blight.

HYPOCRITES

Conservatives WISH Medicare could be ended, but most of them realize that it what they want and what the American people want are two very different things.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Why haven't the Republicans tried to repeal Medicare before? Its not in the Constitution, so certainly they didn't just wake up yesterday and realize this. They have always been against it, right? Wouldn't it be unpatriotic of them to want to take our country away from us with government run medicine for seniors? Or does the Constitution only prohibit the government from providing the middle aged and middle class with health care? If so, where does it say this?

Medicare will be bankrupt in 2017. It owes about $37Trillion in benefits to those of us who paid into it all our working lives. Obama and the dems need to make Medicare solvent, not add more entitlements to it.

If Medicare goes bankrupt what happens to healthcare for the seniors and the poor?

Medicare will only be bankrupt in 2017 if it doesn't raise revenues to keep up with increasing healthcare costs.

Just as every private healthcare insurance provider will be if they don't raise rates.