GOP Details Huge Medicare Change In Leaked Platform

[flpoljunkie]

Source: Talkingpointsmemo

GOP Details Huge Medicare Change In Leaked Platform

In a leaked party platform circulating on the eve of their convention, Republicans reveal in candid detail how they intend to upend Medicare.

The platform, snagged by Politico on Friday afternoon after the Republican National Committee accidentally posted it to its website before taking it down, is scheduled to be approved at the convention early this week.

The text details the privatization policy that GOP lawmakers have supported for years, and that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are selling as necessary to “save” Medicare. But in an unusual twist, it addresses the specific aspect of the proposal that makes it a departure from what Americans know as “Medicare.”

“The first step is to move the two programs (Medicare and Medicaid) away from their current unsustainable defined-benefit entitlement model to a fiscally sound defined-contribution model,” the draft platform reads. “While retaining the option of traditional Medicare in competition with private plans, we call for a transition to a premium-support model for Medicare, with an income-adjusted contribution toward a health plan of the enrollee’s choice. This model will include private health insurance plans that provide catastrophic protection, to ensure the continuation of doctor-patient relationships.”

Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/republican-party-platform-medicare.php?ref=fpa

[a geek named Bob]

1. Oops!

sounds like someone forgot to vett all of the take away bags.

[flpoljunkie]

2. R's want to turn Medicare into a definite contribution plan--just like they did with our retirement!

Will we be fooled again?

[a geek named Bob]

5. Well...

it certainly sounds like there is enough dirt on Rmoney.

If our country gets fooled this time, I think it's time to take about disengaging the enabling.

[xtraxritical]

9. The lanquage usage is pretty slick legalesse designed to fool people.

[secondwind]

20. IT DEFINITELY IS!

[tclambert]

64. I can decode "defined contribution model" for you.

It means they define your contribution as something they can steal without giving you any benefits at all.

[Historic NY]

3. They want to make it a cash cow for insurance companies.....

preminum support means you get a voucher and have to buy the rest. Good luck with that.

[onethatcares]

6. that's what the low info voter won't understand

they'll sell it under the cutting the deficit smoke and mirrors.

Jeeez, talk about death panels, this is it. We just have to make the average joe realize it.

[flpoljunkie]

15. That, and to shift the cost from the government to Medicare beneficiaries.

Of course, there will no longer be guaranteed Medicare benefits--only a defined contribution in the form of a voucher.

[patrice]

22. voucher: the size of which can be changed, up or down, politically, right? nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

33. Yes ...

Just like employer contributions to defined contribution retirement plans can be adjusted up or down ...

How many employers have adjusted their contributions upward?

[patrice]

34. Thanks! Bookmarking this thread for future reference.

[freshwest]

57. And the poor on Medicaid, who can't afford any premium, will do what? Drop dead?

[awoke_in_2003]

62. It is the republican way. nt

[avebury]

4. K&R nt

[SoapBox]

7. Just...say...NO!

Better yet, just say HELL NO!

[Berlum]

8. Republicans want to dodge taxes, and milk the public till

as usual - what ripoff artistes

[louis-t]

10. "premium support" is what they called it when they found out

"voucher system" didn't poll well....same bullshit, different name.

[Curmudgeoness]

25. They have always had a way with words. nt

[xxqqqzme]

39. coupon care

n/t

[calimary]

51. DING DING DING! This is IT, xxqqqzme. IT. "Coupon Care." SUPERB!!!

"Coupon Care." They rename OUR plan "Obamacare"? Well, then, WE need to rename THEIR plan - "Coupon Care."

Spread this one far and wide, dear friends! AND it fits BEAUTIFULLY on a bumper sticker, to appeal to the low-information, willfully-ignorant, and heads-in-the-sand voters. IE: Pox Noise viewers and limbaugh listeners.

[NBachers]

53. I agree - "Coupon Care" is it!

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Oh goody! Just like let's take retirement from 'defined-benefit' to 'defined-contribution'!

[SoapBox]

12. Exactly!

Dems...ya best take note and start talking fast & LOUD, about this.

[Marthe48]

13. copy and saved

Everyone should save a copy, in case the repigs' lawyers take issue with Politico!

How incompetent are the staffers? They just make one mistake after another.

[wordpix]

17. hey, it's hard werk keeping the repugs' platform a total secret!

It's understandable they will mix up what's for release and what's not from time to time

[wordpix]

14. clearly this benefits people with offshore accts. practicing "tax loophole accounting"

No longer will they pay into the gov. program. Instead, they can invest the money in their tax haven accounts that make 100-1000%/year (at least, Rmoney's magical IRA "earned" this much), tax-free.

The rest of us will have to put up with the vagaries of the stock market and paying taxes on any gains, to boot. In addition, our salaries will remain taxed as ordinary income, while the finance manager geniuses pay lower taxes because their income is called "capital gains" (or at least, this is what Rmoney's gotten away with so far).

[Marthe48]

16. They can put this much detail into their Medicare destruction

but they can't add exceptions to their non-choice plank? So what we already know--there wouldn't be exceptions to their pro-life plank. So by their judgement, the mothers would die, rather than end a pregnancy killing them. Do they have any humanity? They want every single conception completed, but think it is ok to send a beloved adult child to die in war, or die to complete a pregnancy? What the hell is wrong with them?

[patrice]

23. Excellent point! They're capable of great engineering when it comes to their pockets, but when it

comes to different kinds of women in different places, with different needs, socially and economically, in their lives, they're suddenly and remarkably limited in their perceptions and creative ideas.

[blkmusclmachine]

59. You can GUARANTEE the US will continue tracking hard right

with our quisling DC DINOs looking in every nook and cranny for their fabled phony "New Democrat"/Third Way "bipartisanship" BS excuse to get as much of the GOP's pet legislation passed as possible without an open revolution from REAL Democrats.


Operation Northwoods

[JDPriestly]

18. The GOP -- party of thieves.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

19. Of course they intend to destroy it. But what is the 3rd Way Centrist position?

[patrice]

24. Doesn't that depend upon when you ask? And it's way too early for anything acceptable

to have developed yet and, also, I bet there's very clear understanding of that fact amongst the RNC platform committee, hence this feigned 3rd position that's supposed to look so reasonable, feigned, because it is waaaaaaaaaaaaay out of balance to the right and yet it WILL be presented as the "centrist" position.

[antigop]

21. keep this kicked n/t

[Loudestlib]

26. WOW so they adopted Paul Ryan's plan!

If Romney and the rest of the Republicans are adopting Paul's voucher plan for Medicare you can bet that they are going to take on his abortion platform!

[nineteen50]

27. Yippee! vouchercare

coupon health care .

[Flying Squirrel]

28. It's kinda like Vietnam

Where, in order to 'save' the village, they had to kill everyone in it.

[drm604]

29. I just posted this on FB

to give some of my right-leaning friends something to think about.

[a kennedy]

31. are they intelligent enough to understand it??

I probably shouldn't be laughing about this.....it's to d*mn serious.

[drm604]

32. It might sway some.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[Iliyah]

30. Lets face it, the GOPpers want old people out,

cause with all the women getting pregnant for them the old folks would just in their way, plus you can't make a profit covering them for pete's sake, they cost way too much. With all these babies being born the GOPpers will not in no way cover them too, so there you have it, more money in their pocket.

[WinkyDink]

46. No; they want non-wealthy people out. Literally dead.

[Blue Owl]

35. vOUCH

n/t

[valerief]

36. Privatize Medicare! Privatize Medicaid! Eradicate healthcare!

The Republican Way. Oh, yeah, and tax cuts for the "job creationists".

[bucolic_frolic]

48. Yeah! You got it!

Birther Job Creationists

Sort of like permanent pregnancy-prosperity.

They are the MAN, ain't they?

[rocktivity]

37. They just happened to accidentally leak it online, Politico just happened to find it

and now it's just happens to be part of the news cycle...


rocktivity

[oldsarge54]

38. Republican Reform

Why is republican reform always sounds so good. Tort Reform: Lowers payoffs, makes it harder to prove injury, limits of liability. Storm Damage Reform (Texas): Heavier burden of proof placed on claimant. Reduces payoffs. Redefines specifically how bad a storm has to be to be eligible for storm damage. Medicare and Medicaid, more company friendly. Shifts the burden on the individual and if they don't have the means, tough. We ARE heading back to 1900.

[xxqqqzme]

41. Then we need a

Teddy Roosevelt yesterday.

[oldsarge54]

43. Funny

You know, I thought that Obama was a Theodore Roosevelt. His advantage was that unlike Obama, the Republicans were on his side, sort of. Also, TR did have a nice collection of Buffalo and Elephant guns.

[elbloggoZY27]

40. Give It To The GOP

Since they revealed their attack on Medicare lets let every Republican opt out of their Federal Health Insurance Plan and make them the guinea pigs for this grand Senior Citizen Ripoff.

I will admit one thing they spilled the bag of goodies so we can all see right through the looking glass and see the folly.

[Roland99]

42. Just sent this to my mom

I'm sure she'll forward it on to all of her email contacts (99% of which are very right-leaning)

[oldsarge54]

44. Scrooge

Social darwinism at it's best. If you are poor, tough luck, your fault.

Does that pretty much cover the Republican Platform?

[eridani]

45. they also want to raise the Medicare eligibility age

This amounts to mass murder. People DIE wating to get on Medicare.

[bucolic_frolic]

47. It's a Game of Hot Potato and Makes No Sense

to pass off the costs to private plans, give them a profit, and expect
the same quality of care with fewer dollars.

The only way to achieve this is through greater efficiency, and while computer
technology is making its way into the health care system, it was something that
was going to happen anyway without changing Medicare.

Therefore it's a hot potato being passed from Hospital costs to doctor costs to
Medicare to Medicaid to private insurers: WHO is going to ration healthcare?

Vouchercare is a form of rationing. Vouchercare is a Financial Death Panel.

Private insurers are a form of rationing. Same GOP end game: Superior health care
for those with the Money to pay for it, reduced care and a pat on the head for those
who can't pay for it.

[julian09]

49. 15% to 20% will go to insurance profit, instead of medical care.

They want more insurance co contributions.

[tclambert]

50. Why don't they just follow Romney's lead and make their platform secret?

Refuse to release it at all. Only contributors of more than $1 million get to see it. Or Romney's energy plan. Or his budget plan. Or his tax returns. Their new motto can be: Vote for Romney--the ninja candidate.

[sofa king]

52. It's the Republican dream.

Fill your taxes out on the back of a postcard, and clip your health care out of the Sunday paper.

[rks306]

54. Sounds like the cat was let out of the bag

Why do average old people watch FOX?

[brightertomorrow]

55. maybe someone should send this

to Ed, Rachel, Lawrence, Chris, Cenk & Jennifer. Just amazes me how they want to keep taking things away from people and then still expect people to vote for them.

[Bigredhunk]

56. It's insane

Just amazes me how they want to keep taking things away from people and then still expect people to vote for them.

It's insane, but part of it might be this (short version: people who need help resent needing help so much that they vote to take the help away):

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/us/even-critics-of-safety-net-increasingly-depend-on-it.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

[blkmusclmachine]

58. Catfood Commission III.

You KNOW it's comin'.

[Evasporque]

60. Also included is a impossible bureaucratic jungle of red-tape...

That is so difficult that most of the people who require the services will fail to complete the proper paperwork, effectively reviving institutional racism.

[goodword]

61. Oh, sure..raise the age limit...again

By the time they're done we'll all be DEAD before we can cash in on what we've paid over the years.

But what irks me the most is Romney and ALL politicians have the best healthcare around, the best retirements around. They throw us a few crumbs (and remember, we paid for those crumbs) and they keep taking away more and more.

When are we going to make it stop?????

[goclark]

63. help me out...

I just woke up and read this tread.
Isn't this document the same old smoke and mirrors they have been saying?

What did they say in the platforrm that we didn't think they would say?

I taught kindergarten ....can somebody put our responce in Abc language for voters?

Ex: Rmoney wants to take away your Medicare and give you a coupon that won't work!