Three ways Congress can improve Medicare

While Medicare for All is debated in Washington, let’s not forget the nation's nearly 40 million seniors on traditional Medicare who need their benefits expanded now.

Make no mistake: Universal coverage for Americans is a laudable goal that many older citizens appreciate. Most seniors want health security for their children and grandchildren. But today’s traditional Medicare beneficiaries lack essential coverages to remain healthy themselves – namely, dental, vision and hearing care. And that should be a top priority for the 116th Congress.

So, why doesn’t Medicare fully cover beneficiaries’ eyes, ears and teeth? When Medicare was enacted in 1965, it was a fundamental program to provide seniors with guaranteed health care for the first time in American history.

Read more from this op-ed by clicking here: https://cnn.it/2WzANit

Source: cnn.it

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“But at the end of the day…we’ve got to have entitlement reform and that is why we keep pushing for our health care reform and that’s why we keep pushing for entitlement reform.” - Speaker Paul Ryan

This is no surprise to us. Speaker Ryan has been trying for years to cut earned benefit programs.

We have been keeping track of Congress’ actions on earned benefits and health care.

Click here to view our Congressional timeline.

paul ryan politics social security medicare medicaid health care healthcare seniors older americans elderly retirement retirees retirement crisis entitlements entitlement reform earned benefits social insurance speaker ryan congress GOP republicans p2

Lumping Social Security and Medicare together and calling them ‘entitlements’ is also telling. These are earned benefits, not entitlements, which American workers have contributed to throughout their working lives. Conservatives have long used the word 'entitlements’ to make those earned benefits seem like welfare.

via Entitled to Know.

Source: bit.ly social security medicare election seniors politics retirement retirees retirement crisis entitlements entitlement reform healthcare health care p2 older americans elderly election 2016 2016 election debate earned benefits

““Over the long term horizon, we’ve got to get this debt under control and the only way to do that is entitlement reform,” Ryan said in an interview on Fox Business. “That’s why we’re never going to give up on entitlement reform.” ”
Related... — “Over the long term horizon, we’ve got to get this debt under control and the only way to do that is entitlement reform,” Ryan said in an interview on Fox Business. “That’s why we’re never going to give up on entitlement reform.”
via Washington Examiner.
**Related Reading:**
Speaker Ryan and his GOP colleagues continue to voice their support for earned benefits and health care cuts.
**You can track their quotes by clicking here.**

Source: bit.ly politics paul ryan earned benefits social insurance entitlements entitlement reform older americans elderly health care healthcare p2 medicare medicaid congress GOP republicans retirement retirees retirement crisis

I think any budget that we pass out of the House must include entitlement reform

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.

Sign Our Petition:

Petition to Congress: STOP Bullying America’s Working Class: End the Calls to Cut Our Earned Benefits.

Source: bit.ly politics social security earned benefits freedom caucus congress GOP p2 seniors retirement retirees retirement crisis entitlements entitlement reform social insurance medicare healthcare health care elderly older americans working class

“House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday said House Republicans will aim to cut spending on Medicare, Medicaid and welfare programs next year as a way to trim the federal deficit.
“We’re going to have to get back next year at entitlement... — House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday said House Republicans will aim to cut spending on Medicare, Medicaid and welfare programs next year as a way to trim the federal deficit.
“We’re going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit,” Ryan said during an interview on Ross Kaminsky’s talk radio show.
Health-care entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid “are the big drivers of debt,” Ryan said, “so we spend more time on the health-care entitlements, because that’s really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking.“
via The Hill.
**Related Reading:**
After Passing Senate Tax Bill, GOP to Target Seniors’ Earned Benefits.
As if to confirm the warnings of seniors’ advocates, Republicans have signaled that their next targets after the tax bill are Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) admitted as much in an interview with Politico last week, declaring that spending cuts in earned benefits programs will be necessary to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and multinational corporations.
National Committee President, House Dems Decry GOP Tax Plan’s "Dire” Impact on Seniors.
The tax bill will trigger an immediate $25 billion cut to Medicare unless Congress quickly waives the PAYGO provision of federal budget law.
Both Medicare and Medicaid – which helps seniors afford long-term care – are targeted for deep cuts in the GOP budget plan.

Source: bit.ly politics social security medicare medicaid earned benefits GOP republicans congress social insurance p2 older americans health care healthcare seniors paul ryan marco rubio entitlements entitlement reform

bit.ly

Rebutting Speaker Ryan’s Social Security, Medicare myths

With the scribbled ink on December’s GOP tax legislation barely dry, congressional Republicans are promising to target Americans’ earned benefits this year. House Speaker Paul Ryan told a Wisconsin radio interviewer, “We’re going to have to get back… at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit.” Ryan went on to make a number of dubious claims, all to justify future benefit cuts for working Americans, millions of whom already are struggling to make ends meet.

Of course, Ryan has been using this rationale for years. The difference now is that he and his party finally have the power realize their long-held dreams of gutting programs that Americans have paid into for their entire working lives. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is not the firewall against changes to Social Security and Medicare that he promised to be during the campaign.

In opposing these attempts to undermine Social Security and Medicare, it’s important for us to continue to correct a few of Ryan’s mendacious fairy tales about these programs:

Social Security and Medicare are the ‘major drivers’ of the debt

This is a canard budget hawks often use to attack earned benefits. The truth is that Social Security and Medicare Part A are self-funded through workers’ payroll contributions. They do not contribute a penny to the debt. However, one of the biggest drivers of the debt moving forward will be the Trump/GOP tax cut.

Overnight Health Care: Paul Ryan to exit without entitlement reform

Nathaniel Weixel, Peter Sullivan, Jessie Hellman

Medicare advocates celebrated Ryan’s announcement, noting that he will leave Congress without accomplishing his lifelong goal of reforming Medicare.
“House Speaker Paul Ryan’s retirement from Congress lifts a very dark cloud that has hung over older Americans for nearly two decades,” Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said in a statement.
“During that time, Speaker Ryan has been the Privatizer-in-Chief on Capitol Hill – advocating to turn Medicare into a voucher program and to gamble retirees’ Social Security benefits on the whims of Wall Street.”
via The Hill.

Related Reading:

Farewell to Paul Ryan and His Insidious
“Entitlement Reforms.”

As America’s Privatizer-in-Chief, he spearheaded attempts to turn Medicare into a voucher program and to gamble retirees’ Social Security benefits on the whims of Wall Street.
He passed legislation in the House to cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid by imposing per capita caps and turning it into a block grant program.

Source: bit.ly politics social security medicare paul ryan speaker ryan GOP republicans congress entitlements entitlement reform retirement retirees retirement crisis seniors elderly older americans healthcare health care earned benefits social insurance p2

“QUICK: Will the Trump administration tackle entitlement reform?
KUDLOW: Well, we’ve already tackled a big part of the newest entitlement, namely Obamacare. As far as the larger entitlements, I think everybody’s going to look at that probably next... — **QUICK:** Will the Trump administration tackle entitlement reform?
**KUDLOW:** Well, we’ve already tackled a big part of the newest entitlement, namely Obamacare. As far as the larger entitlements, I think everybody’s going to look at that probably next year. I don’t want to be specific, I don’t want to get ahead of our own budgeting, but we’ll get there.
This aligns with comments from National Republican Congressional Committee chair, Rep. Steve Stivers, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and several other key GOP members about the need to pay for last year’s tax cuts by ‘reforming’ Social Security and Medicare. ‘Reforming,’ of course, means cutting and privatizing.
**Read more from this post by clicking here.**

Source: bit.ly politics larry kudlow white house social security medicare entitlements entitlement reform social insurance retirement retirees retirement crisis earned benefits healthcare health care p2 elderly older americans donald trump trump

But I feel from all the budgets that I’ve passed, normalizing entitlement reform, pushing the cause of entitlement reform and the house passing entitlement reform, I’m very proud of that fact. But yeah, of course more work needs to be done, and it really is entitlements. That’s where the work needs to be done, and I’m going to keep fighting for that.

Speaker Paul Ryan via Politico.

Related Reading:

Seniors Relieved as America’s Privatizer-In-Chief Heads for the Exits.

House Speaker Paul Ryan’s retirement from Congress lifts a very dark cloud that has hung over older Americans for nearly two decades. During that time, Speaker Ryan has been the Privatizer-in-Chief on Capitol Hill – advocating to turn Medicare into a voucher program and to gamble retirees’ Social Security benefits on the whims of Wall Street.

Source: bit.ly politics entitlements paul ryan speaker ryan earned benefits entitlement reform older americans elderly retirement retirees retirement crisis social insurance social security medicare medicaid healthcare health care p2

NCPSSM — Three ways Congress can improve Medicare

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.