U.S. House Republicans, Including All from Virginia, Vote To Destroy Medicare

A little while ago, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the extreme, reactionary, bizarre plan (the Orwellian name for it is “Path to Prosperity,” sort of like “war is peace” in “1984”) by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), which Democrats have rightly labeled the “Road to Ruin.”

Personally, I’d call it the “Highway to Hell!”

Anyway, here’s the roll call vote: 235 Republicans in favor of Rep. Ryan’s plan, 189 Democrats (and 4 Republicans) against it. Note that every Virginia Republican, including supposed “moderate” (not sure how on earth anyone could believe that anymore!) Frank Wolf, voted to destroy Medicare. Note that every Virginia Democrat voted against destroying Medicare. For more, see Rep. Connolly’s statement on the “flip.”

Also, check out Ezra Klein’s analysis on how this was a VERY risky vote for many House Republicans:

House Republicans, conversely, have just taken a very difficult vote – remember that Ryan’s bill includes all the Affordable Care Act’s Medicare cuts, plus further cuts and privatization, plus tax cuts for rich Americans – on a bill the Senate will certainly ignore, and that Democrats are aching to campaign against. Rep. Steve Israel, the head of the Democrats’ House campaign strategy, is probably being optimistic when he says that “people will look back at this vote as a defining one that secured the majority for Democrats,” but it’s not that hard to imagine a chastened Republican Party wondering in 2013 whether it should’ve been a bit more strategic.

In other words, this was a case where Republicans managed to get not just the policy wrong, but also the politics. Let’s hope they keep making huge, unforced errors like they did today!

CONNOLLY VOTES NO ON GOP BUDGET BILL DISMANTLING MEDICARE

Reckless House Republican Budget Bill Breaks Faith with America’s Seniors

WASHINGTON – Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA) today voted against final House passage of the Republican’s fiscal year 2012 budget plan that would dismantle the Medicare program for America’s seniors.

“I could not support the Republican majority’s draconian budget plan that would destroy the Medicare program and break faith with our seniors,” Connolly said after the vote.  “Denying and rationing medical care for seniors, increasing out-of-pocket costs for medical services and prescription drugs, and putting the fate of our seniors in the hands of the private insurance companies do not represent my values or the values of most Virginians or Americans.”

Connolly pointed out that before Medicare was enacted in 1965 about half of all senior citizens lacked any form of health insurance, compared to today where every senior has access to health care coverage through Medicare.

The House passed the bill Friday afternoon by a vote of 235-193.  It was opposed by every House Democrat and a handful of Republicans.

Connolly said the House-passed legislation would force seniors to pay about $7,000 more each year in premiums and co-insurance fees and it would reopen the Medicare Part D doughnut hole that forced seniors to pay thousands of dollars for prescription drugs.  “Not one dollar of the increased costs to seniors would be used to reduce the deficit,” Connolly said.  “Instead, the Republican plan lines the pockets of the private insurance companies.”

Instead of receiving guaranteed health care under Medicare, seniors would receive vouchers to help them pay for private insurance.  Unfortunately, the Republican-passed budget for next year also repeals important reforms prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, Connolly said.  “This puts every senior with a pre-existing condition at risk.  Even those who can afford the increased costs of privatized care could find themselves denied insurance due to a pre-existing condition,” he said.

“This budget shreds the contract that this country has with seniors after a life time of work,” Connolly said.  “By slashing Medicare, it takes away the last protection for seniors late in life and forces them to fend for themselves at a time when they are most susceptible to illness, disease, and injury.”

Noting that the cost of health care for seniors would double within 10 years and triple by 2030 under the legislation, Connolly said, “I was proud to stand with America’s seniors in the fight to save Medicare.”  

The Virginia congressman cited a letter from 192 economists and health care experts warning that the legislation “would undermine essential protections for millions of vulnerable people.”  

“This bill won’t reduce health care costs, it just shifts the burden to our individual seniors,” Connolly said.  “I could not support a Path to the Past which returns us to the law of the jungle and the survival of the fittest, throwing the young, the elderly, the sick and the disadvantaged to their own fate.”