"Rep. Paul Broun Proposes Bill That Would Privatize Medicare"

[TomCADem]

The media continues to give the GOP a free pass, as they claim that they are defending Medicare, but introduce bills like this:

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/26/broun-privatize-medicare/

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One of the great success stories of the modern American welfare state has been the Medicare system, which — since 1966 — has provided health insurance for all Americans age 65 and done so much more efficiently than private insurance. While Medicare may be a very popular program today, it was bitterly fought by the right when it was proposed. (Ronald Reagan even produced commercials claiming that the single-payer health care system for the elderly would lead to a dictatorship.)

In an attempt to reclaim the right’s rich tradition of opposing Medicare, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) has proposed legislation that would roll back the Medicare system and replace it with a system of vouchers that seniors could use to purchase private insurance:

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun introduced his own health care reform bill last week that would, among other things, privatize the Medicare insurance program for seniors.

Broun’s bill would replace government benefits with vouchers that could be spent on private insurance or put in tax-free medical savings accounts.

“We’ve got to fix Medicare,” he said. “It’s headed in a direction that’s unsustainable.”

While Medicare is facing future budgetary problems, privatization isn’t the solution. Medicare Advantage, the Medicare plan under which the administration of the program is farmed out to private insurance companies, has more than five times the administrative costs of the traditional public Medicare plan

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[msongs]

1. how bout cut the military welfare budget by 50% nt

[Arctic Dave]

2. Totally agree.

Until we tell the military to go get bent we will never afford programs for the good of the people.

[Bitwit1234]

3. I can't post this enough

The bush administration rolling out of the Advantage system is causing Medicare to be a cash cow for private insurance. I get overwhelmed by the companies trying to get me to drop regular Medicare and take their plan.

My clinic says they don't accept the Advantage plans. They charge more for the same procedures and visits that regular Medicare does. And the are more than slow plan. They don't pay. This Advantage plan is ruining Medicare. And they want to privatize it all the way. How does giving vouchers lower the cost of Medicare. It wouldn't. It seems to me that the republicans will do anything they can to put all government services in the hands of private companies so those companies can soak the public and make money.