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NationofChange / Op-Ed
Published: Tuesday 14 August 2012
“What Romney didn’t say was that his running-mate’s budget — approved by House Republicans and by Romney himself — would cut Medicare by the same amount.”
Whose Plan Destroys Medicare — Obama’s or Romney-Ryan’s?
Stumping in Florida today, Mitt Romney charged President Obama’s Affordable Care Act will “cut more than $700 billion” out of Medicare.
What Romney didn’t say was that his running-mate’s budget — approved by House Republicans and by Romney himself — would cut Medicare by the same amount.The big difference, though, is the Affordable Care Act achieves these savings by reducing Medicare payments to drug companies, hospitals, and other providers rather than cutting payments to Medicare beneficiaries.
The Romney-Ryan plan, by contrast, achieves its savings by turning Medicare into a voucher whose value doesn’t keep up with expected increases in healthcare costs — thereby shifting the burden onto Medicare beneficiaries, who will have to pay an average of $6,500 a year more for their Medicare insurance, according an analysis of the Republican plan by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
Moreover, the Affordable Care Act uses its Medicare savings to help children and lower-income Americans afford health care, and to help seniors pay for prescription drugs by filling the so-called “donut hole” in Medicare Part D coverage.
The Romney-Ryan plan uses the savings to finance even bigger tax cuts for the very wealthy.
Spread the word. Don’t allow the GOP to get away with this demagoguery.
This article was originally posted on Robert Reich's blog.
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ABOUT Robert Reich
ROBERT B. REICH, one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including his latest best-seller, “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future;” “The Work of Nations,” which has been translated into 22 languages; and his newest, an e-book, “Beyond Outrage.” His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen’s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.
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By Ronnie Cummins
8 comments on "Whose Plan Destroys Medicare — Obama’s or Romney-Ryan’s?"
August 15, 2012 10:57am
This looks like straight forward facts. Why is this "too political" for the news readers to tell the public in the news broadcasts?
August 14, 2012 7:42pm
Obama's plan cuts spending on medicare & makes it better & the people get more & the businesses mak less profit .
Romney/Ryan want to make it so the businesses make more money
& the people on medicare have to pay more & get less.
August 14, 2012 2:29pm
American politics reminds me of schoolyard behavior. Pardon my crudeness, but it goes something like this:
My cock is bigger than your cock.
No way, mine is 700, 000 dollars long.
Yeah but if you fold mine in half, it's 700,000 dollars long!
That's not what your momma said!
and so on and so forth.
It's just disgusting.
Neither side offers hard facts and details to back up their positions. As such, our leaders mentalities are child-like.
August 15, 2012 4:08am
Actually, both of these plans are well documented, and if you don't realize that, then you haven't been paying attention.
August 15, 2012 7:02am
You don't actually think that they are talking to the people that have been paying attention, do you? R&R will sling their manipulated facts from now til election day and if there is any fact checking it will be buried somewhere that the "not paying attention" majority of the public will never see. Just watched big R on CBS this morning, no one called him on anything.
August 14, 2012 2:05pm
If no one considers the republicans an enemy they should have their head examined. They are an obvious menace to everything balanced or for middle class America. Once eliminated the middle class will need nothing so they have a point. Basically we need to fight as hard as we would any enemy that would take every thing we have because that is what they are doing. republicans will take and laugh in our face.
August 14, 2012 11:05am
"Democracy Now" had a good rundown on Paul Ryan's devotion to Ayn Rand. Ryan was pamphleting his fellow congresspersons a few years back on behalf of this psychotic before he was picked to go mainstream. Let's see how many critics of Ryan will have the guts to follow Amy Goodman and delve into Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' of selfishness.
Trying to understand the deep motivations of Paul Ryan without knowing something about Rand is similar to dissecting Adolf without reading 'Mein Kampf'.
August 14, 2012 10:59am
RoMoney, Ryan and GopCare -- disasters come in threes!