Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans vows to fight Medicare privatization

[eridani]

Fight Medicare Privatization!
Ed Coyle
Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans
http://www.retiredamericans.org/

My name is Ed Coyle, and I am the Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, a 4 million-member advocacy organization for older Americans.

Paul Ryan's budget proposal takes better care of CEOs in corporate towers than it does seniors in nursing homes.

The Republican budget tries to hide its cold-hearted details behind seemingly innocuous buzzwords like “vouchers” and “block grants.”

But allow me to translate. "Voucher" is Ryan-speak for turning Medicare over to the big insurance companies.

And "block grant" is Ryan-speak for saying that Medicaid should be run by Republican governors across the country.

But we all know the truth. We've seen what happens when the insurance companies call the shots - they choose their profits over our health, the corporate interest over the public interest.

Look at what has been happening in state capitals over the past few months. Why would anyone want to put affordable access to nursing homes and long-term care into the hands of Scott Walker, John Kasich, Mitch Daniels, or Chris Christie?

In the name of deficit reduction, Paul Ryan goes way too far. What he wants is to fundamentally change our nation’s values – give tax cuts to the wealthy, but yet make it harder for seniors and low-income children to see a doctor.

The Alliance for Retired Americans has 4 million members, and we are organized in 1400 local chapters around the country. We will spend the month of April organizing grassroots actions around the country to try to stop this cold-hearted plan.

But we won't stop there. All the political pundits agree that about a dozen states will decide both the presidential election and the control of the next Congress.

These states have large senior populations. If there is one thing you can say about seniors, they vote. Older voters are often one-third of electorate.

Between now and November 2012 we will educate and mobilize older voters. We will tell them the truth about the issues and where the candidates stand.

We will mail to them. We will phone them. We will meet them at senior centers, shopping malls, and at Alliance events.

We will have paid staff in the field all over the country. We will build zone coordinator and paid and earned media programs in all the battleground states. In short, we will build the largest senior field organization ever assembled.

We have to tell Americans - particularly seniors - about just how dangerous Paul Ryan's budget proposal is.

To keep America as a nation where we still lend a helping hand to the young and the old, and to the sick and the poor, we must stop these cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Thank you.

[pnwmom]

1. Wonderful! I am so happy they weren't bought off

by Ryan's plan to exempt people over 55 from the changes -- and that they mentioned children's health care, too.

[eridani]

2. Yes, this is the difference between ARA and elderly teabaggers n/t