Okay, so a number of their governors have said slapped a big no to setting up health information exchanges in their state and others have reacted negatively to health insurance exchanges, but is the GOP really, as the head of an advocacy group representing millions of retired Americans, that “badly out of touch” with American workers and retirees?
Don’t get me wrong, it angers me that they’re not giving healthcare reform a chance as well, but seniors are worried about making Medicare over into a voucher – a lump sum for medical care and if you exceed that, too bad – or turning it into private insurance.
According to a poll conducted by Pew Research, more than seven in 10 Americans have heard of Republican vice president-designate Paul Ryan’s proposal to eliminate traditional Medicare, and among them, those who oppose the idea outnumber those who think it’s a great idea.
Edward Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, was quoted by modernhealthcare.com as saying in a statement that the GOP policy platform “would reverse 50 years of success in the Medicare program by cutting benefits, delaying eligibility, and urging seniors to move toward private coverage.”
Coyle's statement was based on his assessment of a draft that was leaked earlier, a spokesman for the Alliance for Retired Americans said in an e-mail, modernhealthcare.com said, adding that Coyle's statement was equally critical of the GOP plan for Medicaid.“At a time when middle-class families everywhere worry about the cost of long-term and nursing home care, the platform would cut Medicaid and turn the program over to cash-strapped states,” according to Coyle's statement as referenced by the website. “This would badly jeopardize the only way over 70 percent of families can afford this type of medical care for their loved ones.”In 2010 – the last year in which statistics were collected – 47.5 million Americans were on Medicare.
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Edited by
Allison Boccamazzo
