If Gop Kills Medicare it will Kill Me, My Family and You

[FourScore]

Tue Apr 05, 2011 at 06:11 AM PDT
(Updated: Krugman's Take) If Gop Kills Medicare it will Kill Me, My Family and You
by Steven D

The Republicans have a plan to destroy Medicare.

If enacted I will likely die an early death as will my wife.

A little background: I have a chronic autoimmune disorder that forced me to retire from my profession over ten years ago. The drugs I take each year (and I take mostly generic versions of those medications) cost roughly $5,000 last year. With insurance, the amount I paid for those drugs cost about $1,200.

My wife is not so lucky. She is a pancreatic cancer survivor (since 2006) who, as a result of the chemotherapy drugs she received, suffered permanent brain damage. The details regarding the cognitive problems she struggles with are described in this post at Booman Tribune for those who are interested. She is also a Type 1 Diabetic since the cancer and cancer treatments effectively destroyed her pancreas. The drugs she takes for her health issues are much more expensive than mine. They cost roughly $16,000 last year of which we paid roughly $4,000.

My wife, as a fully disabled person who receives SSD benefits, was shifted to Medicare A for doctor visits, etc. Her drugs (as are mine, my daughter and my son), however, are still covered under the group insurance plan of her former employer. The cost of those premiums is roughly $7000 per year and we pay the full amount. Though the premiums have increased each year (roughly 5% give or take), we manage. In this we are fortunate, since if we had to buy individual policies for health care the cost would be much higher...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/05/963573/-Updated:-Krugmans-Take-If-Gop-Kills-Medicare-it-will-Kill-Me,-My-Family-and-You

[Blue Meany]

1. If they pull this off, I foresee elderly, dying patients

becoming suicide bombers, targeting those who cut them off from medical care. I'm not advocating it, but it seems but it's what I would expect.

[Drale]

2. I don't know about suicide bombers per say

but their will defiantly be violence against the right.

[dflprincess]

3. They can't kill Medicare without Democrats who are willing to be aid and abet the murder

I imagine the excuse will be that the entire Federal budget was being held hostage so that the "new Democrats/Blue Dogs/DLC/3rd Wave" (pick your name) types had "no choice" but to be complicit.

[Historic NY]

4. The GOP is the real death panel they warned you about.

[toddwv]

5. Anybody who thinks that the GOP gives a rat's ass about average people

should take a look back over the past 15 years.

This is the GOPs final solution for healthcare: