GOP Throws Granny Under the Bus

National GOP Leaders Want to

Destroy the US Social Safety Net

They Have Had This Goal for Generations Because People Who Receive the Benefits of the US Social Safety Net Predominantly Are Democrats, or People so Dense ‘Tea Partiers,’ Who Receive These Benefits but Don't Realize They Do

By Brian Conners
Progressive America Rising via Takeaways

Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan wants to turn Medicare into a voucher system and reduce Medicaid by turning them into block grant which won't keep up with the pace of medical costs.

This means that the elderly and ill segments of our population will be encouraged to " die quickly" -- remember Grayson's summary of the GOP's health care plan? This isn't what they signed up for. The GOP is not being true to the bargain we gave our people.

The article "Medicare Saves Money" delineates how the GOP is hurting us all by its Medicare plan." states "Every once in a while a politician comes up with an idea that's so bad, so wrongheaded, that you're almost grateful. For really bad ideas can help illustrate the extent to which policy discourse has gone off the rails.

And so it was with Senator Joseph Lieberman's proposal, released last week, to raise the age for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67.

Like Republicans who want to end Medicare as we know it and replace it with (grossly inadequate) insurance vouchers, Mr. Lieberman describes his proposal as a way to save Medicare. It wouldn't actually do that. But more to the point, our goal shouldn't be to "save Medicare," whatever that means. It should be to ensure that Americans get the health care they need, at a cost the nation can afford.

And here's what you need to know: Medicare actually saves money -- a lot of money -- compared with relying on private insurance companies. And this in turn means that pushing people out of Medicare, in addition to depriving many Americans of needed care, would almost surely end up increasing total health care costs."

It isn't only a liberal leaning columnist saying this, but a former Reagan adviser, as the article states "Indeed, as the economist (and former Reagan adviser) Bruce Bartlett points out, high U.S. private spending on health care, compared with spending in other advanced countries, just about wipes out any benefit we might receive from our relatively low tax burden. So where's the gain from pushing seniors out of an admittedly expensive system, Medicare, into even more expensive private health insurance?"

The GOP has generations ago decided that rational political conversation didn't work as well as appealing to the baser instincts of their constituents as the article states "Now, none of what I have said should be taken as a reason to be complacent about rising health care costs. Both Medicare and private insurance will be unsustainable unless there are major cost-control efforts -- the kinds of efforts that are actually in the Affordable Care Act, and which Republicans demagogued with cries of "death panels."

The point, however, is that privatizing health insurance for seniors, which is what Mr. Lieberman is in effect proposing -- and which is the essence of the G.O.P. plan -- hurts rather than helps the cause of cost control. If we really want to hold down costs, we should be seeking to offer Medicare-type programs to as many Americans as possible."

The states are near bankrupt and the GOP wants to make them use a decreasing pot of money to provide health care for the poor. How do we think this will end up?

That isn't enough. They want to destroy Medicaid also as the article "Critics Fear G.O.P.'s Proposed Medicaid Changes Could Cut Coverage for the Aged" states "The House plan would turn Medicaid, which provides health coverage for the poor through a combination of federal and state money, into a program for states. The federal government would give lump sums to states, which in turn would be block grant given more flexibility and independence over use of the money, though the plan does not spell out what the federal requirements would be.

Beginning in 2013, these grants would increase annually at the rate of inflation, with adjustments for population growth, a rate far below that of inflation for health care costs. As a result, states, which have said that they cannot afford to keep up with the program's costs, are likely to scale back coverage. Such a reduction, critics fear, could have a disproportionate effect on Medicaid spending for nursing home care for the elderly or disabled."

The GOP would have Alzheimer disabled granny sitting on the side of the road as the article states "According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which analyzes health care issues, 7 of 10 nursing home residents are on Medicaid, in large part because even middle-class patients often run through their savings while in a nursing home and turn to the entitlement program."

Democrats have accused the GOP over having no decency as the article states "At a news conference last week, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia sharply criticized several of the ideas for reshaping Medicaid, calling broad-based cuts "almost beyond my moral understanding."

Before you get old enough to be in that awful plight the GOP wants to maintain your joblessness and raise your taxes so the fat cats get richer. To do that they will trot out the failed propaganda that tax cuts for the rich pay for themselves.

The article "EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT TAX CUTS LOSE REVENUE" depicts that the opposite of the GOP's promises occurs.

The article states "The claim that tax cuts "pay for themselves" -- i.e., cause so much economic growth that revenues rise faster than they would have without the tax cut -- has been made repeatedly in recent years and is one of the many tax policy issues that is likely to receive renewed attention in light of the upcoming election. As explained briefly below, this claim is false. The evidence shows clearly that tax cuts lose revenue."

The article painstakingly analyzed data and concluded "In sum, the idea that tax cuts pay for themselves sounds too good to be true because it is too good to be true. Tax cuts lose revenue, and when they are deficit financed, they can also contribute to poorer economic performance over the long term."

Where does the Tea Party darling Michele Bachmann stand in this matter?

Bachmann wants to cut taxes for the rich and make the poor pay more as evidenced in the article "Bachmann Calls for Huge Corporate Tax Cut Alongside Tax Increase for the Working Poor".

Maybe the GOP is simply evil. Maybe they only want their contributors to make huge profits. Maybe they don't realize the facts. Maybe they don't understand that unless people have employment they can't buy the fat cats products.

Looking at it as objectively as possible it appears that GOP leaders want to destroy the US Social safety net. They have had this goal for generations. They don't want Democrats to be able to boast to their voters that through their efforts the middle and lower classes can look forward to employment in their youth and middle age, and secure golden years. They don't care about proles who vote for them due to the GOP's campaigns that appeal to their baser instincts.

Ryan wants to turn Medicare into a voucher system and reduce Medicaid by turning them into block grant which won't keep up with the pace of medical costs.

This means that the elderly and ill segments of our population will be encouraged to " die quickly" -- remember Grayson's summary of the GOP's health care plan? This isn't what they signed up for. The GOP is not being true to the bargain we gave our people.