Monday, July 9, 2012

When Youth Fades Away

Medicare is the culprit of all evil for every Republican in Congress. They blame public programs such as Medicare for the economic crisis and the increases in our national budget. The numerous wars, the over expending in weapons which never seems to be enough, their salaries and lavish expenditures, the unregulated banking industry and of course over a decade of tax cuts to the very wealthy have not contributed at all to the current economic crisis, only Medicare and public programs for the poor and the elderly need to be “reformed” because they are the ones depleting our funds.  Really?

It is funny that all three branches enjoy the benefits of  Medicare  but Republicans are not willing to part with it, all these benefits are a necessity for them and a parasitic luxury for the rest of America.

On his website, Romney says that President Obama has “attacked” every proposal suggested by Republicans. I think our President has defended rather than attack, the rights of the American citizens. What the Republicans have been proposing [and this is nothing new] is to privatize Medicare. The government will determine how much money a senior will receive to “help” them pay their insurance premiums. Basically, what that means is that Medicare will be eliminated and seniors will have to acquire private insurance. Of course, the consumer will choose the insurance they can afford, if they are to choose a more expensive option they will pay for the difference themselves. The problem with this, among many other things, is that those seniors that must opt for the more expensive option due to certain medical needs will have to pay out of pocket for it. Once again, only the wealthy retirees will be able to enjoy good health care when they reach their golden years, the poor seniors will have to shop around, be inundated with verbiage they don’t understand and where only the premium cost will be important, not their health since they won't be able to afford it.

According to Mitt Romney, the amount that will be provided to seniors to cover their premiums will be a fixed amount. I wonder if the “fixed” amount will take into consideration ailments that affect certain seniors but not all seniors. For example, will it be more for seniors that need an organ transplant or have gone through a transplant that requires follow ups with specialists and expensive medications for life? Will it be more for seniors with BP or diabetes? Will any of this matter when assessing the “fixed” amount?  We will not find the answers to these questions on Mitt Romney's site and in the usual Romneyism that characterize him, he is devious enough not to speak clearly or stand firmly on what he proposes - he knows that if we know the truth he doesn't stand a chance of ever being elected.

Romney, who “hates” government interference in private companies or on how they run their businesses, is going to demand that all insurance companies offer a comparable plan to today’s Medicare. Yeah, right!

Romney justifies the “fixed support” amount provided by the government as a tool because according to him it will empower seniors with the choice of purchasing less expensive plans and use the leftover to pay for  “other medical expenses like co-pays and deductibles.” So, on top of losing the security of Medicare, now the elderly who are almost at poverty line levels must pay for co-payments and deductibles set by private insurance companies. The party that cried that “Obamacare” had death panels doesn’t need “death panels”… They know that by privatizing Medicare most of our poor seniors will die, if not by choosing the worse but cheapest plan then by starvation. It is sad when a person that has worked all of their lives have to choose between medication and food since their funds won’t allow them to afford both.

Mitt explains that the government will still provide traditional Medicare but since this coverage will cost more to the government, seniors that wish to keep that plan will have to pay even higher premiums than those selecting private insurance.

In every civilized society in the world, seniors are viewed as a treasure to cherish. An endless source of wisdom and who most of the time binds a family together. Not in the United States, here seniors are seen as a burden, useless and who many of them die in a nursing home all alone because their children are too busy to be bothered with taking care of them. The Republicans are a perfect example of these views; they believe that seniors are a burden to society and especially to the government. A government that for decades demanded and took without hesitation the taxes these citizens contributed with, a government that had no problem asking them to go to war to “defend” our country in faraway lands that never posed a physical thread to us, such as Vietnam. A government that when have asked, these seniors responded by saying “Present!” but now, at the sunset of their lives, they can no longer say “Present!” so they are a bothersome group that Republicans cannot wait to get rid of, unless they are wealthy, of course. And we all know that the wealthier these seniors are, the most likely that they never said “Present!”

The Romney/Ryan plan claims [to read a previous post explaining in detail what the Ryan plan entails and with a link to the actual plan, click here] that will give a “more generous support” to lower income seniors and wealthier seniors will receive less. Why not remove wealthy seniors altogether? Wealthy seniors can afford to pay for full premium coverage without government help; they don’t need that “support” check. But no, the thought of not helping the wealthy it's unthinkable for the GOP. How can they tell a wealthy person that the government will not help them because they don’t need it but that they are going to help the poor instead? That will be outrageous, a sacrilege! But they can tell a poor senior “sorry, this is all we can help you with… not enough? Do all of us a favor and die quickly!

Once more, Romney is counting on the “good heart” of insurance companies. We must remember that he has promised to repeal Obamacare on his first day in office, among about a thousand other things he promised to take care on his very first day in office. Thanks to Obamacare, insurance companies can't raise their premiums or cancel your policy for a pre-existing condition, they can't drop you if you get sick and insurance companies must expend at least 80% of their profits on their policy-holders' medical expenses. If Romney wins (may the Spaghetti Flying Monster have mercy on us!) and repeals Obamacare, those provisions will also be repealed. We all know that insurance companies have never lowered their premiums no matter how many policy holders they have, the rich just seem to not have enough money and the more they have, the more they want.  We all know the true "heart" of insurance companies and it is not a pretty one.

We are reaching the boiling point, where the 1% will be the only ones entitled to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” while the rest of the 99%, will have no Life worth living, no Liberty since we will be the peons of the 1% and not entitled to the pursuit of happiness… we will have not the money nor the health to pursuit it.

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