When are you middle income conservatives going to admit that ALL Republican plans have nothing to do with making life better for you? If they sell you on privatization, they get part of the profits in back campaign donations. They also keep the tax breaks for the wealthy in tact even though that's where all resources are that would help balance the budget. Yes cut spending, but not at the expense of poor people, old people, sick people and children. That's what makes Ryan and idiots like him a true threat to the future of ALL Americans.Show me where any of his plan shares the sacrifice with upper income people. When you show me how they are sacrificing more than they have, you can justify cutting medicaid and education. Put up or shut up.

oh, so its not really a 'dirty little secret' then?? thanx for the reply

Go to lmgtfy.com and look up Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). That's the board that will determine what the government will pay for and what it won't. Obama's plan is for them to take trillions out of Medicare payments (in addition to the hundreds of billions he's already raided).

As a beneficiary, you have no say in the decisions the board makes and can't go to another plan if you don't like it, but that will be fair since nobody else can either. That's the liberal way.

noleftist: just curious where you hear 'dirty little secrets' about the POTUS??

The dirty little secret is that Obama would start having an unelected board of directors start setting limits on who could get what care. The older you were, the further to the back of the line you'd move, just like in Britain and Canada. That's called age discrimination, and if it's you or your parents in that situation, you have no recourse. The libs don't want you to be able to shop! You MUST be in the government plan with NO RECOURSE - NO OTHER OPTIONS!

Plus, if we started putting Medicare in vouchers, Obama and the rest of the criminal Dems could not raid it like they did for ObamaCare.

Don't forget it was Democrats that raided Medicare to the tune of half a trillion dollars to fund ObamaCare. It was Democrats that raided Medicare Advantage programs that disproportionately serve the poor, and it was Democrats that sped up the insolvency of Medicare. Now they're claiming to be its champions? What a joke!

all I know is - I'm a relatively smart business person taking care of my aging parents and am finding the whole longterm support/Medicare/Medicaid/spend-down/Parts A,B,C,D/supplemental policies/etc., totally bewildering. And we're supposed to give these memory-impaired people vouchers so they can figure out what insurance policy will be best out of the hundreds (thousands) that will become available? I'm ready for a nervous breakdown just thinking about it.

If Canada's health care is so great, why do Canadians come to the U.S. when they really need care, like Baby Joseph's family. We have choices and the GOP proposal gives us those choices. I'd rather choose for myself than have a panel of 15 do it for me. Not used to anyone doing something for me. It is not a voucher plan, but works as Part D does and is the same plan the federal employees get. Who wouldn't want that?

The definition of a "NO GOOD ANSWERS"..... Not getting the answers you want.

Interesting article about the canadian system.

http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_3_ca...

Poorrichard: Ryans's plan specifically says it is called a voucher.

I quoted from the CBO website. So whats your point?

The LIE: “It says that ten years from now, if you’re a 65 year old who’s eligible for Medicare, you should have to pay nearly $6,400 more than you would today.”

REALITY: This is a false comparison based on a false reality. As mentioned above, the CBO reports that Medicare’s trust fund will become insolvent in nine years unless we act. This would necessitate harsh restrictions on seniors’ access to care – the kind of restrictions that the President himself alluded to later in his speech. The President is taking CBO numbers out of context and omitting the CBO’s clear warnings about Medicare’s impending bankruptcy.
That’s why comparing a Republican plan that saves Medicare to an unsustainable status quo means comparing a real solution with a false reality. The Medicare program as it exists today cannot exist in the future. The real choice is this: Do we act now to protect the program for current seniors while building a strengthened Medicare for future generations? Or do we restrict access to care for current and future seniors, as the President has proposed, while ignoring our crushing burden of debt until it becomes a fiscal crisis?

The LIE: “It says instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher.”

REALITY: The changes in the House Republican budget will not affect those in and near retirement in any way. When younger workers become eligible Medicare, they will be able to choose the kind of plan that best suits their needs from a list of Medicare plans that are guaranteed to offer coverage to all beneficiaries regardless of pre-existing conditions. Medicare would then provide a payment to subsidize the cost of the plan. This is not a voucher – it is a payment that flows through to whatever plan recipients choose.

The LIE: “And if that voucher isn’t worth enough to buy insurance, tough luck – you’re on your own.”

REALITY: Under the House Republican Budget, Medicare will provide increased assistance for lower-income beneficiaries and those with greater health risks, guaranteeing that Medicare will be there for those who need it most. Wealthy seniors will receive less assistance, and the Medicare benefit will grow every year, while using competition to lower costs and make health care for seniors more affordable.

The LIE: “Put simply, it ends Medicare as we know it.”

REALITY: The President’s plan – a commitment to the status quo – condemns Medicare to a bankrupt future. The greatest threat to the health security of America’s seniors is the President’s plan to deeply and systematically ration Medicare.

poorrichard: I posted this directly from the Gazette's article. Read it.

I say one thing-you say the opposite and we both quote the CBO. Did you read my post? BROKE in nine years. BROKE That's Obamas plan. You may have to move in with your Canadian friends if this guy gets four more years.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, under the Republican plan, most elderly people will pay more for medical care and get less than they do under Medicare.

The LIE: “The Ryan plan is a vision that says America can’t afford to keep the promise we’ve made to care for our seniors.”(Obama 4-11)

REALITY: The President’s commitment to the status quo will end Medicare, period. According to the non-partisan CBO, Medicare will go bankrupt in nine short years. The President announced in his speech that he would rely on strict limitations on how much care seniors could receive in order to achieve savings. Contrary to the President’s opinion, CBO does not believe this would result in lower costs. Current seniors would receive less care through Medicare against a backdrop of relentlessly rising health care costs.

I've learnd alot. And I don't like what I hear and see. And I'm not shutting up. I don't like what happened at the townhall meeting here in Janesville. And, there were not good answers given, no matter what you think.

WE all heard and read about it kaysbrew...and for everyones info the baby boomers end in 1963 so there will be a lot more of us out there yet.

concerned-Unlike yourself I actually took the time to attend one the meetings (in Delavan). They did ask alot of questions but to say they were not given good answers is an out and out lie. Maybe some didn't like the answers but often times the truth does hurt. Like I said in another post- Show up or shut up! You know, maybe if you watch something besides channel 3 once in a while, you might actually learn something.

kaysbrew: It's not just words. I heard it on Channel 3 news this morning. I don't have to post a link. I'm sure many others heard it. The poll was just done this morning by cell phone. OK?

Don't answer my question then about Ryan's townhall meeting, then. I didn't figure you would.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVo7495RK...

Herman Cain for President ! True Blue conservative

You'll have to post that link because once again you are not backing up your statement. It's just words

Kaysbrew: How did you like Gazette's article this morning about Ryan's townhall meeting yesterday? Senior citizens asked a lot of questions. And they were not given good answers.

I saw the poll result this morning on Channel 3 news. 65% were against Ryan's plan.

Support for Obama's health care reform is 35%, Why are Democrats still supporting it?
Are Obama and Democrats riding this sinking ship all the way to the bottom.....

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financial...

A new poll finds support for President Barack Obama's overhaul at its lowest level since passage last year.

Worries about government deficits that keep rising due to health care costs appear to be driving the numbers.

The Associated Press-GfK poll showed that support for Obama's health insurance expansion has slipped to 35 percent, while opposition stands at 45 percent, and another 17 percent are neutral.

Among seniors, support has dipped below 30 percent for the first time.
1 week ago Report Abuse

The problem here is many senior citizens are not able to make the decisions that need to be made for themselves. They could be taken advantage of easily, if they have no one who handles their affairs. And there are many of them out there.

I know of people who live in Canada and they love their health care. They said they would not move to the US, no way. They believe the US is a backwards nation.

Sorry, kaysbrew: YOU ARE WRONG. IT WAS ANNOUNCED ABOUT 9:30 a.m. THIS MORNING ON CHANNEL 3.

Only 35% approve of Obama no care - Ryan's is coming from Obama's own debt commission.

A poll was done this morning. 65% of the people doing the poll did not approve of Ryan's plan. I wonder why.

Other countries have single payer health care. That is what we need.

Ezoner: What is your suggestion for elders who do not have family? There are many of them out there.

What Tammy failed to mention was even 1 prudent and responsible way to reduce the spending and deficit.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/264...

Obama has the death panel right now. 15 members. That is why you will see seniors now be given waivers. Only because this wasn't to start until 2013 but it's now and far worse then Ryan's who doesn't touch current seniors and Obama is in for a huge fight for his office. Who doesn't have a waiver yet?

Do any of you really think that private insurance will be better, not to mention cheaper. Let me guess, the one speaking for it are already on it or will not be affected. We will have to build the old poor houses like they had to put people in. Do you think a nursing home will take anyone that does not have money to pay? These vouchers are tied to increases for inflation, not the increases in medical care. Will an insurance company pay for surgury on an 80 year old patient, I doubt it, they will let them die. I have an idea, let make it like you do for a pet, when it gets old and bad take him to a vet and give him a shot, put him to sleep. That will stop the drag on SS and medicare. Then we can process the body into soylent green for food.......

Of all the people -- I would expect the aging baby boomers to understand that the money doesnt exist. That the money was spent by our government. That SS and Medicare should have been funded by changes made years ago. That the payments into the systems were not protected and not nearly enough to meet the demands once people began drawing on them. The reality is, what does this aging population expect? Do they expect all behind them to pay in more and them still be unable to collect? The reality is, that the program funding is insufficient, that both programs are unsusstainable as they are currently structured. That SS was never meant to be the sole source of income. I have aging family members and maybe its time for personal and family responsibility. I will take care of mine as best I can and you should take care of yours.

As I read through the article -- it reminded me that I was also raised by my grandma. She is welcome to move in with me and would be provided with the best crae I can afford. But I do not feel I should be forced to support everyone. I will take care of my family -- not yours.

it ends when there is no profit on the sick. single payer health care.

Just to comment. Every month I go to the pain clinic because of a surgery that went wrong.For years I did not have insurance or Medicare.Mandatory,two times a year they have to do a urine test.My first tests cost me out of pocket expense about $300.00 for each test plus doctor fees.Within 2 years the same tests went from $300.00 to over $500.00 for each test.
I am now on Medicare. My last months test for the same test, cost over $800.00 !
I pay over $6000.00 a year just for prescripion and supplement insurance.
My wife recently went to a doctor visit because of diabetes. Yesterday the bill came in the mail.The bill was $801.00 !She does not have any insurance.
We are in the bracket that no help is available.
Where does it end !

GCM
Janesville,

you may have paid in all your life but like SS, this is a Govt run pyramid scheme and not a bank. Money paid in now goes straight out to recipeints. This system works ok as long as the base keeps expanding but when all the boomers are drawing out and the funds coming in are from a couple of kids working at MickeyD's it will all collapse.

You trust a woman who has already raided Medicare once to the tune of half a trillion dollars, speeding up its bankruptcy and driving us to the point where we have to have these conversations. Willfull ignorance!

Privatized health care will cost us aging folks a heck of a lot more money that a lot of people don't have. It is a pet peave of the repubs and has been, since they invented that wonderfully deceptive phrase entitlements.
This is and always was a thing that we, the working people have paid into all of our lives and, like everyone who gives their money to a bank, expect it to be there when it's our turn.
The real problem is people are living longer and there are many different medical conditions that go along with age. And don't even get me started on the baby boomer thing because there are a lot more getting ready to retire in the next 25 yrs.
As you probably already guessed I will support Tammy and her fellow representatives who follow seem to have a grasp at this point on the right thing to do.

Kid where is the verbal contract in this?

This from the same woman who voted to raid half a trillion dollars from Medicare to fund other pet projects. What a hypocrite.

At least if I get my premium in a check form, it'll be safe from this woman's grubby hands.

If Tammy Dear thinks it's so wonderful, she should take a look at what Drs. get compared to what a procedure costs. No wonder so many are not accepting Medicare any longer. These lefties think that they can cut more from the program and it will continue to be accepted by the medical profession. She and her side loves to write these heart twisting stories, but reality tells anyone with common sense that this can't continue without it costing someone more money. Money the government doesn't have and won't have.

Maybe Americans are not ready to be talked to like adults? Maybe they still believe the money for these programs just appears from nowhere? Perhaps we should just plant a few more money trees in the Obama orchard? Make no mistake with these entitlements, fix em or you'll lose em.

verbal contracts are as valid as written ones

Very well said both of you!!!

All this demeaning a representative who is trying to get real. There will always be a safety net for senior medical care. When asked at the doctor's what my insurance carrier is and telling them it's Medicare, I get looks you wouldn't believe. And why not. Being new to medicare I remember what was charged to my prior insurance company and what medicare pays now. It is horrid. How long do you think doctors are going to take on medicare patients. Many now have to get additional insurance to get the care they need. And I'm sure the next guy gets a higher premium because of my medicare. There needs to be changes, not the status quo. I applaud anyone willing to try to find answers. I'm sure Paul Ryan did not come up with this plan off the top of his head, but had much research; unlike all of you just spouting off and putting fear in people. Why don't you come up with a plan that will make sure it's there for the future instead of knocking this one. And all your president is interested in right now is the next election.

With all due respect Congresswomen your choice of words is deceptive. Medicare is a law, expanding on an earlier law (social security). Laws are not contracts. Laws can and are changed every year in congress. The fact is when this law was first passed, and later expanded, there were plenty of workers to support each beneficiary based on the medical costs and benefits granted at the time. Since this time benefits and medical costs have escalated and the ratio of beneficiaries to workers has reduced, today that ratio is very close to 3.7 workers to each beneficiary. In 2030 this ratio will shrink to 2.4 to 1; this is not sustainable.

How do you plan to preserve a program without a plan to fund it?

Currently the social security administration and the managers of medicare have admitted there are issues that need fixed for these programs to survive. Placating your base by demeaning an effort by a member of congress to offer a solution might keep you in congress, it does not however fix the problem you and your party has chosen to ignore.