Photo from Wikimedia Commons Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate could be attributed to many different factors, but I like to think that Romney, realizing that Democratic ads would continue to tie him to “The Ryan Plan To End Medicare As We Know It (Seniors Beware!),” decided that there could be no better way for his campaign to defend the plan than to add its architect to the ticket. According to a Pew Research poll releas...
photo from Wikimedia Commons On September 6, 2011, Tom Nielsen, a retired 71-year-old plumber, interrupted Paul Ryan’s “pay per view town hall” at the Greenfield, WI, Rotary Club. Nielsen, enraged by Ryan’s crusade against entitlements, yelled out, “I’ve paid into that for 50 years, for my unemployment, and my social security, and my Medicare! And now you’re gonna-”. The old man was not allowed to finish. Three security guards pummeled the reti...
...vernment is the only institution left to undertake the task of insuring those without access to insurance elsewhere. The right to healthcare in America is implicitly recognized in the nation’s sacrosanct laws, its untouchable Medicare and Medicaid programs, and emergency room regulations that stipulate that no critical needs patient be turned away. Couple these commitments with the fact that hospitals are legally prohibited from serving patients...
...reudian), exactly why he was running for president. Paul Ryan is a man of conviction. He’s been in the House for 13 years, weathered three administrations, and never once backed down from his principles. He wanted to overhaul Medicare when it was politically toxic, and kept on chugging as the Tea Party moved the issue to the forefront. His budget is a culmination of his 41 years on this planet, and many terms in Congress. It is the pinnacle of co...
photo from Wikimedia Commons The 2012 Presidential Election just got real: GOP nominee Mitt Romney has selected Wisconsin representative and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan as his running mate. Ryan, the author of the Republican-approved Path to Prosperity budget proposal (often simply referred to as the “Ryan Plan”) that sought to rein in long-term deficit spending by reforming Medicare, is a dedicated fiscal conservative and is cons...
...rms that although stimulus spending in response to the current recession has influenced this potentially disastrous trajectory, the main determinants of the unsustainable path are entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The GAO states that “absent changes to federal entitlement programs, spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and interest on the federal debt will account for an ever-growing share of the...
...ifted, placing greater emphasis on unemployment insurance and old age benefits. Consequently, the Social Security Act passed without including health insurance. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt through Bill Clinton brought us Medicare and Medicaid, the rise of a “health maintenance organization” (HMO) system, and other revisions, but healthcare still fails to cover all who need it. The healthcare crisis has come to a head in the twenty-first cent...
...ce off in the first of three debates. This debate will focus on domestic policy, and naturally each candidate must tailor his argument to the ears of the toss-up state voter—particularly the Virginian. For example, fears that Medicare will be turned into a voucher program are so prevalent in Virginia (as in Ohio, Florida, and most swing states) that Obama would be remiss not to equate a Romney win with potential loss of Medicare. Romney will like...
...must ultimately be done to deal with out budget woes? What is the one aspect of our deficit that everyone in Washington knows to be the problem? The one answer to this question is the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Of the roughly $47 trillion dollars that the Congressional Budget Office predicted the United States will spend between 2013 and 2024, approximately $24 trillion dollars, over 50%, of that will be spe...
...aggregate Real Clear Politics. But to maintain or increase that minute margin, the president must woo the elderly voting bloc. These voters tend to support government aid programs that directly benefit older recipients (think Medicare and Social Security), and are, generally speaking, wary of attempts to change these policies. As such, Romney and Obama will each accuse the other of wanting to tamper with Medicare and Social Security, and each wil...
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