so. blog.: romneycare

Showing posts with label romneycare. Show all posts

Monday, August 13, 2012

Medicare: It's Socialized Medicine and It Works.

The reason Medicare costs are growing is because it covers ONLY the *most expensive*, sickest population: elderly people. There are no healthier (less costly) enrollees (younger people) to spread out the costs.

Also... Like medicine ACROSS THE BOARD, for everyone, costs have been rising for decades, and they seriously need to be put in check.

But the problem isn't that we're spending too much on Medicare: the problem is that US medical care costs too much. (Other countries get much more out of every medical-dollar--they spend less and have better health outcomes!).

"Obamacare" made a noble first pass at fixing the obvious problems that slow this too-fast growth of Medicare (which every conservative complains about) over the next decade:

eliminate overpayments to private insurers,
reform provider payments to encourage greater efficiency,
tie reimbursements to improvements in economic productivity,
and reduce fraud and abuse.
(from Romney Claims Obama 'Robbed Medicare' 8/13/2012)

These changes are where the "$700billion" comes from.

Very, very cynically, Romney/Ryan are savaging Obama for "robbing Medicare of $700billlion"---but THEIR Medicare plan preserves those very "cuts"/savings!! AND then uses them to pay for their massive tax cuts!

The Ryan-backed GOP budget maintains these cuts, but rather than using them to improve the Medicare program, it applies the savings to pay for massive tax cuts. As the budget chairman himself admitted during an April 5, 2011 speech at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), “We retain the Medicare savings” — and that’s not all. The Republican blueprint transforms the existing Medicare benefit guarantee into a premium support program that would provide seniors with depreciating vouchers to buy insurance from private plans. (from Romney Claims Obama 'Robbed Medicare' 8/13/2012)
(Ezra Klein, in the 5th paragraph, gives plan details/citations in the legislation)

This kind of massive whopper of a lie is par for the course with the conservative chatterers and the Romney (Now Romney/Ryan) campaign. But it's a biggie, because Medicare is a major issue for the electorate. And it turns out that a massive majority of Americans do not like the Ryan and Romney plans to voucherize Medicare.

And: on top of the savings ("cuts" as Romney/Ryan call it) from Obamacare (which Romney/Ryan keep)--Romney's plan would institute another $2 BILLION IN CUTS (Klein, last paragraph). ??!! They can't have it both ways--complaining about the "cuts"/savings then keeping them AND ADDING TO THEM.

The truth hurts Romney/Ryan. Which is why they are lying, distorting, obfuscating and muddying to keep the less-informed voter confused.

They cannot be allowed to get away with it.

Ryanomics = Romneyomics

5 Things Paul Ryan Actually Believes:

Really believes in ending Medicare as we know it
Really believes in ending Medicaid as we know it
Really pushed for privatizing Social Security
Really would decimate government funding to the point of failure to perform routine operations
Really wants to enact the biggest transfer of wealth in modern US history--from the middle-class and poor to the rich

Read more about these 5 items at the link

David Axis-of-Evil Frum (W's speechwriter) maps Ryan's Plan out for us:

He's wrong to believe that today's economic problems are caused by fears of tomorrow's debts. Ryan's plan implies a promise that we can create jobs in 2013 by restraining Medicare costs after 2023. That's ideology talking, not economics.
He's wrong to say that the US faces an imminent debt crisis. Today's big deficits are the consequence, not the cause, of the weak economy.
He's wrong to treat the Medicare cost problem in isolation from other aspects of the healthcare cost problem. You can't force healthcare costs down generally by dealing with Medicare alone. And if you do deal with Medicare alone, you risk stranding seniors with inadequate resources as healthcare inflation continues to rage.
He's wrong to bet the house on premium support without any certainty that it will work. We
should test whether this idea will deliver as promised. (Calling Jim Manzi, author of the new book about the need for public-policy testing, Uncontrolled!)
Above all: Paul Ryan is wrong, wrong, wrong to imagine that a society can deal with rising social-insurance costs while entirely exempting Republican-voting age cohorts and without asking for anything from its richest people—in fact while simultaneously delivering those people a huge tax cut.
Read more: David Frum - What's Right and Wrong in the Ryan Plan - The Daily Beast (8/11/2012) http://bit.ly/Sa3DfV

Top 10 Ways Ryan Budget Hurts the Middle Class

It caters to the 1 percent.
It ends Medicare as we know it.
It eliminates the health care safety net.
It increases unemployment.
It threatens our economic competitiveness.
It showers money on Big Oil.
It devastates Social Security.
It shortchanges K–12 education.
It shortchanges higher education.
It ignores the wishes of the American people.

Read more at: Center for American Progress: Top 10 Ways the Ryan Budget Hurts the Middle Class - (3/21/2012)

12 Things You Should Know About Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan
(8/11/2012) http://bit.ly/R06n4x

Ryan embraces the extreme philosophy of Ayn Rand.
Ryan wants to raises taxes on the middle class, cut them for millionaires.
Ryan wants to end Medicare, replace it with a voucher system.
Ryan thinks Social Security is a “ponzi scheme.”
Ryan’s budget would result in 4.1 million lost jobs in 2 years.
Ryan wants to eliminate Pell Grants for more more than 1 million students.
Ryan supports $40 billion in subsides for big oil.
Ryan has ownership stakes in companies that benefit from oil subsidies .
Ryan claimed Romneycare has led to “rationing and benefit cuts.”
Ryan believes that Romneycare is “not that dissimilar to Obamacare.”
Ryan accused generals of lying about their support for Obama’s military budget.
Ryan co-sponsored a “personhood” amendment, an extreme anti-abortion measure.

$R-Money

All of Mitt's flips and flops in one video, so, all your candidate research, in a nutshell.

Pathetic: Mitt Romney Asks Pres. Obama to Stop Talking About His Taxes, Business Record - (Aug 2012) http://bit.ly/PL8mCQ

On 2008: "Why pick Palin, not Romney, as a running mate? “Oh come on, because we thought Sarah Palin was the better candidate,” John McCain told reporters Tuesday. “Why did we not take Pawlenty, why did we not take any of the other 10 other people. Why didn’t I? Because we had a better candidate, the same way with all the others.” (Sarah Palin was the better choice, says McCain - ComPost - The Washington Post - (7/17/12) http://goo.gl/41zYO )

Colbert takes down Mitt Romney and Bain... brilliantly as always: "

Mitt Romney knows how to treat America's sick economy with his business experience.

("The Business End", June 9, 2011)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - The Business End
www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

Video Archive

HIS PLANS/POLICIES

He's full of lies and vagueness:

Romney himself said in March, his budget plan “can’t be scored” and is missing key details about which deductions it would eliminate. Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan failed to answer the same question a day earlier, telling Fox News’ Brit Hume, “I don’t know exactly what the balance is. I don’t want to get wonky on you, but we haven’t run the numbers on that specific plan.” In sum, Romney’s plan is “mathematically impossible.”
The Romney budget requires even harsher cuts in entitlement programs than Ryan’s radical House-endorsed plan. Ten-year cuts in spending would range from one-third deeper than those in the Ryan budget to almost twice as deep as the Ryan cuts, with potentially disastrous consequences for low-income and middle class Americans — including taking food stamps away from as many as 13 million people.
(from ThinkProgress 8/15/2012: Romney Adviser 'Embarrassed' He Doesn't Know When Romney Would Balance Budget, But Shouldn't Be | ThinkProgress - http://bit.ly/RXaz4o )

Analysis: Romney tax plan strongly favors the rich - Political Hotsheet - CBS News (3/12/2012)- http://goo.gl/bWkgd
Greg Sargent, Washington Post: "Yup: Mitt Romney's own plan would cut billions from cops, firefighters & teachers, a new analysis finds" ( 6/13/2012) http://wapo.st/LTUSV2

What’s getting lost in the back and forth here is that Romney’s actual economic plan would, in fact, cut billions of dollars in federal money that goes to cops, firefighters, and teachers — perhaps more than $10 billion a year, in fact.

MITT'S "JOBS"/ECONOMY RECORD

Biz whiz? Small government? Romney took a record level of taxpayer money to run the 2002 Winter Olympic Games — Keeping GOP Honest (2/2012)
Mitt Romney - Op-Ed Contributor - Let Detroit Go Bankrupt - NYTimes.com (2008)
Romney’s Firm Instructs American Airlines to Sack 13,000Workers | Addicting Info (2/5/2012)

On Wednesday, February 1st, American Airlines announced that it will take the advice of Mitt Romney’s firm, Bain Capital, and lay off 13,000 workers -15 percent of its workforce- replacing their pension plans with 401(k) plans and ending company-paid retiree healthcare.

Think Progress, MA Economy Was ‘Below Avg, Often Near Bottom’ During Romney’s Time As Gov. (2/2012)

As Massachusetts governor, Romney’s record on jobs was unremarkable (2/2012) The Washington Post
Political Animal - Romney: U.S. economy ‘getting better’ under Obama (1/23/2012) --good read, short
Romney Dissed Neighborhood Where He Is Now Highlighting Business Record - BuzzFeed (7/19/2012) http://goo.gl/Lge4K

{More on Mitt, after the flip!}

Massachusetts and Health Care Reform (and don't forget Vermont)

In a development that ought to make conservatives everywhere tingle with thrill, states like Massachusetts and Vermont are innovating health care solutions. (MA's individual insurance mandate, signed by Republican Gov Romney and based on conservative Heritage foundation's ideas, is of course the precursor to the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate).

This blog entry is to track coverage and information about Mass health care reforms. Ongoing.