Seniors, many of whom bought hook, line and sinker republican propaganda that Obama was going to destroy Medicare, pull the plug on granny, blah, blah, and therefore voted in a House full of republicans, have a new reality to face:
No one in Janesville can be surprised by Ryan's ideas for reining in government spending. The cerebral, soft-spoken congressman has been explaining and diagramming his proposals at community meetings for years. But this week House Republicans gave Ryan's plan a high-profile show of support in a televised press conference, ensuring that it will be a key issue in the 2012 election even if the measure goes no further in Congress this year.
Now, Ryan's fix for Medicare, as well as Medicaid, has gotten more personal for hometown friends and neighbors who may be thinking as much about their own retirement or medical expenses as about the size of the federal deficit. Under Ryan's plan, the government would no longer cover seniors' health expenses as Medicare has since the 1960s. Instead, it would provide a certain amount of money to health insurers, with the exact coverage not locked in. His plan is dubbed the "Path to Prosperity." In Janesville, there's some anxiety. AP
The
Center for American Progress says under Ryan's plan, Medicare as we know it will end by 2022. Unlike when the republicans lied about Obama's healthcare plan, saying it would pull the plug on granny, this is a fact:
Medicare as we know it would end for new beneficiaries in 2022 under the House Republican budget proposal. It would be replaced with a government voucher that would be paid directly to private insurance companies. This system would double costs to seniors. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, concluded that “most elderly people would pay more for their health care than they would pay under the current Medicare system.” Read more.
