FACT SHEET: What Seniors' and Other Groups Are Saying About Same Old GOP Plan to End Medicare Guarantee in the Latest Republican Budget
March 19, 2015
- "Once again, the House GOP's budget would privatize Medicare with a voucher plan, leaving seniors and the disabled – some of our most vulnerable Americans – hostage to the whims of private insurance companies. Over time, this will end traditional Medicare and make it harder for seniors to choose their own doctor. Vouchers will not keep up with the increasing cost of health insurance … that is why seniors will pay more. … Seniors need to pay close attention to this next fact: if the GOP isn't stopped from repealing health care reform, Medicare beneficiaries would immediately lose billions in prescription drug savings, wellness visits and preventative services with no out-of-pocket costs, and years of solvency will be lost to the Medicare program."
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, 3/17/15
- "Once again, the [GOP] budget includes a proposal to create a ‘premium support' – or voucher – option for future Medicare beneficiaries, starting in 2024. Medicare vouchers would convert much of Medicare from a defined benefit to a defined contribution program. This would significantly undermine the traditional Medicare program that the vast majority of beneficiaries have relied on for 50 years. … Once again, the Republican budget seeks to further privatize Medicare and shift additional costs to beneficiaries."
Center for Medicare Advocacy, 3/17/15
- "The budget plan put forward by House Republicans today is a frontal assault on the needs of seniors, persons with disabilities and working Americans. It would privatize critical aspects of Medicare … It breaks promises to seniors regarding benefits they have earned over decades of work. … Medicare has served our country's retirees well for 50 years and the rate of health care spending is now slowing after decades of uncontrolled growth. This budget puts those gains at risk and the needs of the privileged over the middle class."
Alliance for Retired Americans, 3/17/15
- "The deep cuts in this proposal – which start with privatizing Medicare – add to the already open wounds of our struggling economy. As quick as Republicans' 180 during the campaign season to a sudden concern for the plight of working people, they're back to showing their true colors. Poking working people with a hot stick isn't conservative economic leadership, its politics as usual."
- "Like the budget plans put forward in recent years by Price's predecessor, Rep. Paul Ryan, the Price plan balances the budget on the backs of vulnerable women and their families. … The Price budget would undermine the Medicare guarantee with a new voucher program. … And here's what the Price budget would not do: raise a penny of revenue from the very wealthy or corporations."