Tag Archives: medicare

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AFL-CIO


Can we trust Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives to fix our long-term deficit problems in a responsible way?

Obviously not. On April 15, they passed an all-out assault on vital programs, including Medicare, to pay for massive giveaways to millionaires and billionaires—while doing almost nothing to balance the budget. The bill was passed without even a single Democratic vote.

This “budget” bill is a fraud on the American people—not a starting point for debate or negotiations. It is no more of a deficit reduction plan than Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s taking away rights from workers was a budget plan.1

A budget that’s only passed the U.S. House of Representatives isn’t law. But the big danger is that the Senate will try to cut a deal that meets House Republicans halfway and worsens the imbalance in our economy. We can’t let that happen.

Tell your senators and President Obama to reject the House Republican budget fraud—and create a responsible 2012 budget that funds the America we believe in.

http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=QcH2CyD0Ij%2FKE7feNKIh6JXmnd4KeRbV

Congressional Republicans have hidden the motivations behind their policies again and again. Here are the facts:

They told us it was about reducing the deficit. But the budget House Republicans passed does virtually nothing about the long-term deficit problem. It cuts $4.3 billion in spending while handing out $4.2 trillion in tax giveaways that disproportionately favor corporations and the rich. The net deficit reduction? A pathetic $155 billion.1

They told us it was about reining in out-of-control health care costs for seniors. But the budget House Republicans passed forces seniors to pay dramatically more for less health care—it does nothing to control health care costs, but destroys Medicare as we know it, replacing it with underfunded vouchers. Under the House-passed 2012 budget, out-of-pocket health care costs for a typical 65-year-old will more than double in the first year alone, increasing by more than $6,000.2

They told us it was about addressing the jobs crisis. But the budget House Republicans passed will eliminate an estimated 1.7 million to 2.2 million jobs over two years.3

They told us it was about creating a better future for our children. But the budget House Republicans passed literally takes food out of the mouths of hungry children by cutting food assistance for low-income families. It kicks 200,000 kids out of Head Start, cuts funding for elementary and secondary schools by 25 percent and slashes college aid for 8 million students.4

No matter what House Republicans say, the bill they passed—which does almost nothing to reduce the deficit, demolishes Medicare and gives $4.2 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthy—shows they’re squarely siding with corporate America and against working families.

Sign our petition: Demand that your senators and President Obama reject this complete budget fraud that devastates working families, children and seniors.

President Obama recognizes we can’t follow the path of radical House Republicans who are willing to kill millions of jobs, destroy Medicare, give away $4.2 billion in tax breaks disproportionately to corporations and the rich and do almost nothing about the deficit. He’s made clear he understands why Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are so important to working people.

But even the president does not have the balance right yet between spending cuts and the need to raise revenue from Wall Street, corporations and the millionaires and billionaires who have benefited for years from our broken economy, which has failed working people miserably.

Corporate CEOs have seen explosive income growth and declining tax burdens for years. And they caused our economic crisis. It’s time for them to pay their fair share to create jobs and fix our crumbling infrastructure. Once that happens, working people can do our part to fix our long-term budget problems. But it’s got to be done in a fair way.

Sign our petition: Urge President Obama and your senators to reject the outrageous House Republican budget bill.

Whether you’re a Republican, an Independent or a Democrat, I hope you recognize today’s corporate Republican politicians—from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner—have swung too far toward favoring corporate America at the expense of the rest of us. And I hope you’ll join us in opposing the House Republican budget.

Thanks for joining our fight for sanity in the federal budget.

In Solidarity,

Manny Herrmann

Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO

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The view from outside Washington …Jim Messina


The President’s speech began a new conversation in Washington about how to reduce the deficit while protecting crucial investments in our country’s future.

But as we seek to build an organization based outside of Washington, President Obama’s speech also provides an unusually stark contrast — one all of us can use to start conversations with our friends and neighbors about what’s at stake in this election.

He spoke about things you don’t generally hear in Washington conversations too often dominated by special interests: He’ll cut waste and excess at the Pentagon — particularly spending that is requested not by our military, but by politicians and corporate interests.

He’ll eliminate tax cuts for Americans in the highest tax brackets who don’t need them, including himself — and he will reform the individual tax code so that it’s fair and simple and so that the amount of taxes you pay isn’t determined by what kind of accountant you can afford.

Some cuts he proposed are tough. But they’re also smart and surgical — helping us balance our books while still doing the right things to win the future. President Obama’s plan would protect the middle class, invest in our kids’ education, and make sure we don’t protect the wealthiest Americans from the costs of reform at the expense of the most vulnerable.

The other side has presented a very clear alternative: End Medicare as we know it, privatizing the program that millions of seniors rely on for health care. Make deep cuts to education. Slash investments in clean energy and infrastructure. All to pay for tax cuts for people making over $250,000 a year, and all while actually raising our national debt.

In short, their plan will please a special interest donor base and those who put ideology before results rather than reduce deficits over the long term. And let’s be clear: They think they can get away with it because, fundamentally, they don’t think you’ll do anything about it.

That’s where I know we can prove them wrong. Because we can respond right now by building an organization that will stop them — not just in this deficit battle, but in the next election so they never have the chance to enact these proposals.

Here’s the first step. Join our fight for a deficit reduction plan that will actually reduce the deficit — with a goal of shared prosperity through shared responsibility. Add your name to support President Obama’s plan — and then help bring more people into the conversation:

www.BarackObama.com    2012

President Obama made a promise in his speech today. He said that we won’t have to sacrifice programs like Medicaid and Social Security — programs that millions of Americans rely on — as long as he’s President. He’s committed to seeking serious solutions to the problems we face while still upholding the larger responsibilities we have to one another. So it’s our job to build the organization that’s going to keep him in the White House.

More soon,

Messina

Jim Messina

Campaign Manager

Obama for America

P.S. — If you missed President Obama’s speech earlier today, some excerpts are below:

1. “Our approach lowers the government’s health care bills by reducing the cost of health care itself.

“Already, the reforms we passed in the health care law will reduce our deficit by $1 trillion. My approach would build on these reforms. We will reduce wasteful subsidies and erroneous payments. We will cut spending on prescription drugs by using Medicare’s purchasing power to drive greater efficiency and speed generic brands of medicine onto the market. We will work with governors of both parties to demand more efficiency and accountability from Medicaid. We will change the way we pay for health care — not by procedure or the number of days spent in a hospital, but with new incentives for doctors and hospitals to prevent injuries and improve results. And we will slow the growth of Medicare costs by strengthening an independent commission of doctors, nurses, medical experts and consumers who will look at all the evidence and recommend the best ways to reduce unnecessary spending while protecting access to the services seniors need.”

2. “But let me be absolutely clear: I will preserve these health care programs as a promise we make to each other in this society. I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves. We will reform these programs, but we will not abandon the fundamental commitment this country has kept for generations.”

3. “In December, I agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans because it was the only way I could prevent a tax hike on middle-class Americans. But we cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. And I refuse to renew them again.”

4. “This is my approach to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next twelve years. It’s an approach that achieves about $2 trillion in spending cuts across the budget. It will lower our interest payments on the debt by $1 trillion. It calls for tax reform to cut about $1 trillion in spending from the tax code. And it achieves these goals while protecting the middle class, our commitment to seniors, and our investments in the future.

“So this is our vision for America — a vision where we live within our means while still investing in our future; where everyone makes sacrifices but no one bears all the burden; where we provide a basic measure of security for our citizens and rising opportunity for our children.”

5. “But no matter what we argue or where we stand, we’ve always held certain beliefs as Americans. We believe that in order to preserve our own freedoms and pursue our own happiness, we can’t just think about ourselves. We have to think about the country that made those liberties possible. We have to think about our fellow citizens with whom we share a community. And we have to think about what’s required to preserve the American Dream for future generations.

“This sense of responsibility — to each other and to our country — this isn’t a partisan feeling. It isn’t a Democratic or Republican idea. It’s patriotism.”

Thank you,

Messina

Jim Messina

Campaign Manager

Obama for America

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Ds support Medicare. Rs don’t


The GOP is trying to break a promise we made to seniors almost 50 years ago. That promise is simple: we’ll make sure you have the basic medical care you need.

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Democrats who fight were proud to hear President Obama vow that he wouldn’t let them break our promise on his watch. He took on Rep. Paul Ryan‘s budget, which ends Medicare as a guaranteed program for seniors. Instead, it takes that money and gives the wealthiest Americans still more tax cuts.

 We’re Democrats who fight, and we need you to join us today. Tell the Republicans to keep their hands off Medicare. This is bigger than balancing the budget. It’s a fight for who we are and what we believe.

Thanks again for all your support,

Anthony

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Medicare:Broken Contract


For decades, Americans have counted on a basic promise: A secure retirement is the reward for a lifetime of labor. Yet last Friday, House Republicans voted almost unanimously to break one of America’s most sacred promises that the cost of health care will not bankrupt seniors and their families once they enter retirement. Less than one year after Republicans hurled misleading claims that the Affordable Care Act‘s provisions to make Medicare more efficient would somehow deprive seniors of care, the House GOP passed a budget that will phase out Medicare and leave seniors entirely at the mercy of the large health insurance companies (ironically, while still keeping many of the Medicare cuts they once criticized). And just one year after Republicans peppered the airwaves with claims that Democrats were ramming major changes to the health system through Congress by spending just one year debating health reform, the GOP-controlled House took only two weeks to debate and pass their plan to eliminate Medicare. If the Republican budget ever becomes law, it will shred America’s contract with seniors who worked every day of their lives knowing that Medicare would be there for them in their retirement.

THE END OF MEDICARE, PERIOD: The GOP budget does not “reform” Medicare. It does not provide seniors with the same coverage Members of Congress receive. And it does not end Medicare “as we know it.” The GOP budget ends Medicare, period. The centerpiece of the House Republicans’ plan is a proposal that repeals traditional Medicare and replaces it with a health insurance voucher that loses its value over time. Because the value of the Republicans’ privatized Medicare replacement does not keep up with the cost of health care, their plan will gradually phase out Medicare as its increasingly worthless vouchers will eventually only cover a very tiny fraction of the cost of a health insurance plan. Worse, as President Obama told the nation last week, the GOP budget immediately fritters away much of the savings from eliminating Medicare with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans. The rich get richer, and America’s seniors are tossed out into the cold.

THE PATH TO MEDICARE REPEAL: Although the GOP budget phases out Medicare gradually over many years, it will deal a body blow to America’s seniors the minute it goes into effect. The GOP plan eliminates traditional Medicare and forces seniors into the private insurance market. But health insurers have substantially higher administrative costs than traditional Medicare, and they lack Medicare’s ability to negotiate lower rates from doctors and hospitals. As a result, seniors will pay more for less as soon as the GOP plan becomes a reality. According to the CBO, total health care expenditures for a typical 65-year-old “would be almost 40 percent higher with private coverage under the GOP plan than they would be with a continuation of traditional Medicare” in the very first year that the GOP plan goes into effect. As a clear sign that the GOP understands that seniors will not stand for losing their access to traditional Medicare, Republicans claim that Americans over age 55 will not lose their access to the nation’s most successful health care program, but this claim is also misleading. The GOP’s plan will shunt younger, healthier seniors into privatized plans, leaving traditional Medicare with an ever diminishing pool of the very oldest beneficiaries, and stealing away Medicare’s power to drive a hard bargain with health providers. Moreover, it’s not even clear that many health insurance companies will even be willing to offer private plans to seniors, who represent the “oldest, sickest, and least profitable demographic.”

THE GOP’S WAR ON HEALTH CARE: Lest there be any doubt, the GOP plan to end Medicare is just one part of a full-scale assault on America’s health care safety net. The GOP budget does not simply kill Medicare, it guts Medicaid, forcing states to either cap enrollment, cut eligibility, slash benefits, lower payments to doctors or somehow dig up additional funds to pay for their newly starved health care system. This assault on Medicaid deals another body blow to seniors, as Medicaid pays for nearly half of all long term care costs in the United States. Nor is the GOP’s war on the health care safety net anything new. The GOP lined up in near-unanimous opposition to the landmark Affordable Care Act, and they just as resoundingly embraced the utterly meritless notion that health reform violates the Constitution. Many GOP lawmakers go even further, claiming that Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and any other federal health care programs are unconstitutional. And the GOP’s last campaign for the White House was built upon a plan to gut state laws protecting health insurance consumers and leave them to the mercy of the insurance industry. In other words, it’s clear that the Republican Party has wanted to dismantle the nation’s health care contract with all Americans for many years — they just finally got the votes to pass this radical agenda through the House.

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As One Budget Battle Ends, Another Begins …from -Joan Entmacher and Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center


Thank you for all you have done to help protect women and their families. We are counting on you in the struggles to come to fight these efforts to destroy programs that millions of Americans need every day.

from …

Joan Entmacher

Vice President, Family Economic Security

National Women’s Law Center

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center

As you’ve probably heard, Congress has approved and the President signed a spending bill for the remainder of the federal government’s current fiscal year. And thanks to your support, we were able to safeguard (and even increase) funding for some vital programs.

Under this plan, which funds programs through the end of September, the budget for Head Start will increase, allowing 60,000 low-income children to continue receiving a valuable jumpstart to their education. Plus, we put the brakes on the effort to take away funding for Planned Parenthood and other critical family planning services across the country. If anti-choice politicians had prevailed, many women would have had nowhere to turn for contraception and preventive health screenings.

Unfortunately, however, these actions came at a high price: the 2011 budget agreement forbids the District of Columbia from using its own local tax dollars to give low-income women access to abortion services they need, putting an already vulnerable population at increased risk. And the agreement includes cuts to health, education and human services programs that will be detrimental to women and their families.

But the fight we had over this year’s budget is dwarfed by what we’re facing farther down the road. The House Republican majority just voted today for a budget for 2012 and beyond that would give more tax breaks to millionaires and corporations while eviscerating Medicaid, Medicare and other programs vital to women.

In supporting Representative Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, the House voted to:Cut, then cap, Medicaid, which would cause millions of vulnerable women to lose their health coverage. End Medicare as we know it, replacing the current guaranteed insurance system with a voucher program that would stick seniors with higher health care costs.

Cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, permanently extending the Bush-era tax cuts, capping the top personal income tax, extending the December 2010 reduction in the estate tax for multi-million dollar estates, and lowering corporations’ tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent.

Put Social Security cuts on a fast-track in Congress, placing millions of women and others who rely on Social Security benefits at risk.

Other provisions in the bill would slash funding for domestic programs such as child care, Head Start, K-12 education, Pell grants, family planning and other women’s health services, job training, housing and energy assistance, and services for the elderly.

The list goes on, but here’s the bottom line: this budget would unravel the fragile safety net for millions of Americans even as it puts TRILLIONS of dollars in the pockets of corporations and the wealthy. This isn’t a fiscal plan — it’s an attack on the very idea that our society should protect its most vulnerable members and on public structures that give ALL Americans a chance at a better life.

Thank you for all you have done to help protect women and their families. We are counting on you in the struggles to come to fight these efforts to destroy programs that millions of Americans need every day.

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher

Vice President, Family Economic Security

National Women’s Law Center

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center