During this Easter-Passover break in the Congressional session, President Obama has been campaigning against the Paul Ryan Republican plan on the budget, particularly with the proposal to change Medicare over ten years to a voucher system.
Obama has said that such a change would be destructive and make it essential for seniors in the future to pay heavy extra costs for health care, as the vouchers would only pay about one third of the expenses.
Ryan has said that the voucher is the only way to save Medicare and promote a future balanced budget.
But Ryan has been gaining some unfriendly reactions, even in his own district in Wisconsin, and Obama has been seeing growing support in public opinion polls, against major changes in Medicare, even among Republicans, and even Tea Party people, as well as Independents!
It is clear that Americans want Medicare retained in its basic form, with some tinkering with it to cut costs!
After all, either an American is on Medicare; or nearing Medicare; or his or her parents or grandparents are on Medicare; or smartly realizes that one day they will be elderly and want the protection and the benefits of Medicare!
In any case, most Americans are willing to pay more to insure that the overwhelmingly popular Medicare enacted by Lyndon Johnson’s Administration survives into the long term!
So, the GOP should go ahead and promote privatization of Medicare, and the more Paul Ryan and other Republicans promote it, the more it helps the Democrats and Barack Obama!
The fact that 235 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted for the Ryan plan has the potential to destroy the GOP majority in the House in 2012. It could very well be the wedge that keeps Barack Obama in the Presidency, the Democrats in control of the US Senate, and help the Democrats gain the 25 or more votes needed to regain the House of Representatives!
So, Paul Ryan and the Republicans, keep on advocating the end of Medicare as we know it! Don’t stop; keep pushing it, and allow Democrats to salivate!