USA Africa Dialogue Series - Only Obama and Liberals Would Protect Medicare and Social Security

Always, always, Republicans are for PRIVATIZATION AND DEREGULATION of the economy.

But this is not always in our interest-- especially when it comes to Medicare and other forms of health insurance.

A former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Marcia Angell, a physician, said in a congressional testimony that in our for-profit health care system "it's been estimated, no one knows for sure, but it's been estimated that no more than 50 cents of the health care dollar actually reaches the providers."

In contrast, she says the overhead (for billing, profit, advertising etc.) of Medicare, a government-ran program, is less than 3 percent.

Across the country, millions of liberals yearn to see Medicare expanded to all citizens. But Republicans want seniors to turn to the private sector for insurance -- and the government would just give them a voucher to pay for it.

But Vice-President Biden said in the debate with Ryan, Oct. 10th: "The voucher plan will not keep pace - will not keep pace with health care costs. ... We will be no part of a voucher program or the privatization of Social Security."

Here's what Dr. Paul Krugman, a Noble Prize recipient, New York Times journalist and economist at Princeton University, had to say about this voucher program:

"Mr. Ryan"s big lie -- and, yes, it deserves that designation -- was his claim that "a Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare. Actually, it would kill the program. ...

"If the voucher proved insufficient to buy decent coverage, hey, that would be your problem. ...

"Moreover, the vouchers almost certainly would be inadequate; their value would be set by a formula taking no account of likely increases in health care costs."

Krugman also said that "vouchercare would mean higher costs and lower benefits for seniors. Over time, the Republican plan wouldn't just end Medicare as we know it, it would kill the thing Medicare is supposed to provide: universal access to essential care. Seniors who couldn"t afford to top up their vouchers with a lot of additional money would just be out of luck."

If Medicare is one of our most efficient and best programs, why do Republicans want to restructure it?

MSNBC said the voucher program would give us 700 billion in savings, which Republicans would use to "pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans."

The news agency decried efforts to "redistribute wealth to America's wealthiest."

Come to my website for more information:  http://www.anniebirdsong.info

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