Marsha Blackburn was just interviewed by Brian Lehrer on WNYC (NPR)

[no_hypocrisy]

She was defending Paul Ryan's proposal on "restructuring" Medicare.

She claimed that she heard from her constiuents every day about how they "want more options" for Medicare and this plan will address their requests.

If Blackburn is in fact hearing "every day" from her constiuents about Medicare, they likely want these options:

1. The physicians want to be paid more equitable compensation by the federal government for services rendered. Doctors who provide geriatric services are paid less and less every year for exhaustive examinations, laboratory tests, hospital consultations, etc. while their expenses increase. There is a debate in the medical community about more physicians deciding to not take any more Medicare patients or stopping their Medicare practice altogether.

2. Same with hospitals treating Medicare patients.

3. Patients want the option of seeing any doctor they choose, not just the doctors who take Medicare payments.

4. Medicare D - Get rid of the donut hole


I can't believe that senior citizens and baby boomers would want "options" that limited in any way their access to Medicare. They have already paid into the system and they do not want to face the prospect of a premature death or debilitated state of living due to the government taking away the financing of an otherwise effective program.

[indepat]

1. My guess is that in no congressional district do more people vote against their own interests as

they do in Marsha's. :patriot:

[socialist_n_TN]

2. Probably pretty accurate............

Although there are, COMPARATIVELY, a lot of wealthy people who live in Williamson County, even there, there's still more of us than them.

The thing about Williamson County is that the people who move there who are NOT wealthy, are the ones who think they WILL be wealthy "one day". So they vote against their economic interests TODAY because they THINK it'll be in their interests when they DO become wealthy. It's that stupid Haratio Alger fantasy, but it carries a lot of weight in Williamson County.

An anecdotal example is a former drummer buddy of mine who moved from a house in Nashville to a TRAILER PARK just so he could have a "Franklin" address. Poor as a church mouse, but he was sure he would be rich one day. And of course, he was a rabid RWer. I used to tell him what I told EVERYBODY who has this stupid fantasy, i.e., VOTE for your PRESENT economic interest. When you get rich, THEN you can vote like a rich guy.

[indepat]

4. People with this mindset surely tip a lot of elections. Mark Haynes mused about

the dichotomy of people voting against their own economic interests earlier today on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

[spanone]

3. blackburn is a partisan hack.

she keeps getting elected because she is in a gerrymandered district

it would take fortunes to run against her

[librechik]

5. What a surprise, Blackburn is lying again n/t