Ryan’s Budget: So extreme, even a Conservative Republican could oppose it

The buzz from Capitol Hill has extended nationwide as House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan’s budget moves to the Senate for a special vote this week. His budget proposes to not only repeal the Affordable Care Act, but also to turn Medicare into a voucher system. This system would force seniors to purchase privatized health care, it would end the program as we know it, and it would shift costs to consumers. Under this new Medicare system, seniors and people with disabilities would see massive increases in their out-of-pocket health care costs. It would double out-of-pocket health care spending for the typical 65-year-old—in one year the extra out-of-pocket costs would be $6,350—and for many, costs would be even higher. Those with limited incomes would face such high costs that they would likely have to go without care. And the problem would worsen over time as health care costs climb much faster than the value of the voucher.

If you thought that was bad, consider this: It will also increase prescription drug costs, making it more difficult for seniors to get the medicine they need, and it will raise the Medicare eligibility age to 67, leaving more American uninsured. Families USA recently released a detailed report explaining how the Republican Budget would effect and change Medicare if passed.

While all but four Republican Representatives have voted in favor of the budget proposal, voters are not nearly as eager to jump on the bandwagon. In a recent Associated Press-GfK poll, the majority of Americans said that the budget can be balanced without cuts to Medicare and that the program is “extremely” or “very” important to their financial security in retirement.

In fact, the issue is had) an effect on an upcoming election in a traditionally Republican district in upstate New York that hosted a special Congressional election yesterdat. More than one-fifth of voters in this district cite Medicare as the single most important issue of the election, making it the most talked about issue, and all but turning it into an election over Ryan’s budget plan. And, likely as a result of the focus on this issue, the Democratic Candidate Kathy Hochul won.

Now, everyone from liberal democrats to conservative republicans are speaking out against the proposed Medicare cuts. Democratic Senator Ben Nelson said, "Seniors already are squeezed on income now,” and that Republican reforms would “force more costs of health care on them." Even famously conservative and anti-Medicare politician Newt Gringrich called the proposed Medicare cuts “radical,” “too big a jump,” and “right-wing social engineering” (he later retracted his statements after conservative backlash). Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts has declared that he will vote “no” on Ryan’s budget due to its effects on Medicare, citing that the cost of plans will outgrow government support, placing an unfair burden on the elderly who have already seen huge cuts to Medicare. Brown proposes working inside of Medicare to improve it instead.

So why are the House Republicans supporting this plan almost unanimously, while the public and even their fellow Republican political leaders seem to oppose it? A recent New York Times editorial muses, “Republican House members brought this on themselves by voting nearly unanimously for the Ryan plan, so caught up in ideological fervor and hubris that they failed to anticipate the inevitable voter backlash.” The Representatives were too tangled up in their own rightward leanings to think about the people they were elected to represent.

As the budget plan moves onto the Senate’s radar this week, it is up to the Senators to be responsible and vote “NO” on this proposal that it so extreme and anti-senior, even some of the most conservative Republicans are opposing it. We cannot allow them to take away the most basic care from our elderly, retired, and disabled loved ones.