Cutting Social Security: A Litmus Test for Leadership
One of our members asked us the other day?”Since when did cutting benefits for seniors living at or near the poverty level become the test of leadership in Washington?? Good question. The truth is, this campaign to cut America?s safety net has been generations in the making and has far more to do with political ideology than our current economic mess. As Paul Ryan says:
“This isn’t a budget. This is a cause.”
But will it be President Obama?s cause too? Media reports say the President will now endorse the recommendations made by Fiscal Commission Co-Chairmen, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson in a speech tomorrow. The Commission Chairmen?s recommendations (issued when it was the clear they couldn?t get the votes for a full Commission report) proposes deep benefit cuts in programs, like Social Security and Medicare. Under this proposal, middle class Americans and seniors will pay the price of Washington?s newfound zeal for deficit reduction. We talked to the Associated Press about our concerns:
?But now that Obama plans to propose his own changes in health care entitlements or Social Security, some of his own supporters are wary. They argue that the president ceded too much ground when he cut a tax deal with Republicans last December and in yielding spending cuts last week. “I want to have confidence, but I’ve got to see something,” said Barbara Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman and president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, an advocacy group. “They can’t continue to give in.” Many liberals say Obama has not been a strong bargainer. “Their weakness in getting the most out of negotiations is their strategic belief that they don’t want to be seen as fighting, they want to appear above the fray and beyond partisanship,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the labor-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “They also believe that they shouldn’t get out there on a position where they may not succeed. These are characteristics that make for a weak negotiator.”
It?s important that everyone understands what the Bowles/Simpson plan proposes for millions of American Seniors. Here is our analysis of the Commission?s Social Security and Medicare provisions.It?s clear that too many in Washington see Social Security and Medicare primarily as numbers on a balance sheet because ?that?s where they money is.? Cut benefits, raise the retirement age, reduce or eliminate the COLA, means test?these are the tools these budget cutters will use to repair the economic damage caused by years of borrow and spend policies that have absolutely nothing to do with Social Security. Contrary to all this rhetoric?balancing the budget on the backs of seniors is not fiscal responsibility and it?s certainly not political leadership.We will be watching the President closely tomorrow to see if he agrees.
Can You Afford $20,000 More a Year for Healthcare?
Not many people can– but that will be the price tag for seniors if the GOP Budget plan to eliminate Medicare and replace its guaranteed benefit with privatized CouponCare becomes law. The Congressional Budget Office says the GOP vouchers will (by definition) fail to keep pace with increases in health care costs meaning seniors will pay much more for the same benefits they receive now. In fact, according to the CBO, a typical senior will spend more than twice as much of his or her income under the GOP CouponCare plan compared to the current Medicare system.How much will this plan cost you? Here?s a wonderful interactive map, which allows seniors to see the impact of the GOP budget plan on your state. We warn you?the results are shocking:
GOP Plan is “Coupon Care” for Seniors
Congressman Xavier Becerra is one of Washington?s most ardent supporters of Social Security and Medicare. As a member of the President?s Fiscal Commission (he voted against the destructive Bowles-Simpson plan) and ranking member of the Social Security Subcommittee he is one of seniors? ?good guys? on Capitol Hill. Today he offered this frank assessment of what the GOP Budget plan proposes for middle-class America and seniors especially:?This isn?t a fiscal document this is a roadmap to poverty for middle-class Americans. This is a manifesto of GOP goals since the days of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Republicans have drained our surpluses and depleted our resources to convince the public that we must now shrink government.”?This is it ? this is the real deal. The fight for our future is on. It?s time to put our battle armor back on and arm up with the weapons we need ? the facts and the true stories about what these vital programs really mean to our nation.?Becerra met with members of the nation?s largest Aging Coalition, the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, today and described in detail how the GOP Budget would destroy Medicare, replacing it with little more than ?coupon care?. The Congressional Budget Office analysis shows seniors will pay much more for their healthcare ? which is no longer guaranteed by the government and instead managed by private insurance companies. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research?seniors won?t be paying just a little more, they?ll face $20,000 in additional healthcare costs under the GOP Budget plan??According to the CBO analysis the benefit would cover 32 percent of the cost of a health insurance package equivalent to the current Medicare benefit (Figure 1). This means that the beneficiary would pay 68 percent of the cost of this package. Using the CBO assumption of 2.5 percent annual inflation, the voucher would have grown to $9,750 by 2030. This means that a Medicare type plan for someone age 65 would be $30,460 under Representative Ryan’s plan, leaving seniors with a bill of $20,700. (This does not count various out of pocket medical expenditures not covered by Medicare.)?The GOP?s ?Coupon Care? plan for seniors replaces Medicare with a privatized system that gives insurance companies federal dollars to provide less care. Washington Monthly summed it up best:?I’d just add that some folks may have forgotten why Medicare was created in the first place. The nature of the human body is that ailments are more common as we get older, and profit-seeking insurance companies weren’t keen on covering those who cost so much more to cover. On average, folks who’ve lived more than six decades often have pre-existing conditions, and we know all too well what insurers think of those with pre-existing conditions. Seniors relied on this system for many years, but it didn’t work. We created Medicare because relying on private insurers didn’t work. And now Republicans want to roll back the clock.?
A Path to Prosperity-Unless you’re under 55, or poor, or widowed, or disabled, or a child who lost a parent, or middle class or have anyone in your family who is or ever will be
It?s clear GOP Budget Chairman Paul Ryan?s ?Path to Prosperity? budget plan is anything but for the vast majority of working Americans. The alleged core value of ?shared sacrifice? actually means sacrifice for everyone except corporations (especially insurers) and wealthy Americans. The House GOP leadership?s dream for America couldn?t be more clearly defined than in the budget plan unveiled today. More tax breaks for the wealthy and budget cuts for everyone else.
For Americans who depend on Social Security and Medicare, this budget plan says ?tough luck?. For corporations that want even more tax loopholes and insurers who?d love the government to pay them to provide seniors less coverage at a higher cost, this budget is truly a dream come true. For working Americans; however, this budget is their worst nightmare. That?s the message we delivered today at a Capitol Hill news conference led by Families USA :?The Medicare provisions, in particular, will send this nation back to a time before Medicare was enacted, when over one-half of the senior population had no health care coverage at all. The Ryan plan would replace the current Medicare program with vouchers and leave seniors and the disabled ? some of our most vulnerable Americans ? hostage to the whims of the private marketplace. Over time, this will destroy the only health insurance program available to 47 million Americans. Vouchers are designed not to keep up with the increasing cost of health insurance? that is why they save money. Destroying Medicare and leaving millions of Americans without adequate health coverage is not a path to prosperity for anyone except for-profit insurers and the American people understand that.? Max Richtman, NCPSSM Executive Vice PresidentThat?s why nearly 100,000 National Committee members have signed letters to their representatives on Capitol Hill reminding them that cutting Social Security and Medicare is not the answer to our budget woes. Those letters have been delivered to Congress today with a clear message:?Social Security and Medicare belong to the American people who have paid (and are paying) into these programs in exchange for promised benefits. I urge you to reject any deficit reduction plans that cut benefits and, instead, support only those proposals that ensure the viability of Social Security and Medicare.?Here is just some of what the GOP budget plan would do:
- Eliminate Medicare and replace it with a privatized system where seniors get vouchers (however, Ryan?s new poll-tested language is now ?premium assistance payments?) to pay for health care. In truth, we prefer to call them ?coupons? since they really offer about that much assistance because the whole idea is that the voucher will never actually cover the true costs of healthcare. That?s where the government saves money. Under this scheme, taxpayers will pay insurers to provide less coverage while beneficiaries pick up more of the tab. Congressional Quarterly describes it this way:
?The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reviewed an earlier version of the plan and found it probably would lead to increased costs or reduced benefits for beneficiaries. ?First, most of the savings for Medicare under the proposal stem from reducing the amounts that the federal government would pay for enrollees on a per capita basis,? according to the CBO?s Nov. 17 analysis. ?Second, future beneficiaries would probably face higher premiums in the private market for a package of benefits similar to that currently provided by Medicare.?
- Social Security reforms will be fast-tracked. While the legislative language of Ryan?s plan doesn?t propose specific cuts (allowing them to claim ?we?re not cutting Social Security? before an election year) this legislation does create a new triggering mechanism and fast-tracked process for Social Security cuts which is unprecedented in the history of Congressional budget resolutions. The trigger language in this bill is designed to circumvent the current process in order to mandate fast-tracked reforms through Congress. And since this bill?s summary also rules out revenue changes, such as the most popular option for Social Security reform, raising the payroll tax cap so that the wealthier pay their fair share, what?s left? Benefit cuts. In fact, the Ryan plan?s summary endorses cutting future Social Security benefits for everyone who is earning more than $22,000 a year right now (while they?re working) ? which is the vast majority of Americans.
- Social Security Administration cuts. This budget also assumes a continuation of GOP budget proposals which undermine Social Security by cutting its administrative budget so deep that the SSA can?t process claims in a timely way to serve the public.
- Won?t pay back the Trust Fund. Rep. Ryan?s budget summary denies the federal government?s responsibility to repay the $2.6 trillion Social Security trust fund, built up by payroll contributions from generations of working Americans. This Budget plan states: ?Any value in the balances in the Social Security trust fund is derived from dubious government accounting.?
In other words, it was real money when you paid it into the Trust Fund but now House GOP leaders have declared those dollars just ?dubious government accounting.? Speaking of dubious accounting, some are already raising the red flag on this plan?s manipulation of the numbers.Make no mistake about it, House Republican leaders intend to use the current fiscal crisis, created by decades of borrow and spend policies to justify slashing programs which touch the lives of virtually every American family.This isn?t fiscal responsibility.But it does show just how large the disconnect between House Republican leaders and working Americans truly is because the American people will not support dismantling Medicare or cuts in Social Security. These are not the priorities seniors voted for last November and now?s the time to deliver that message.Take a moment and use our Legislative Action Center to send an email to your members of Congress. It?s easy and all you need to know is your zipcode. We must let Washington know Paul Ryan?s priorities are not America?s priorities.
GOP House Leader Wishes for an America without Social Security
Every once in awhile?and honestly, it doesn?t happen that often here in Washington?a politician says exactly what he thinks. He/she steps away from the party talking points and poll-tested language which purposefully confuses more than clarifies. We had one of those moments this week, when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor made it clear that the America he dreams of would abolish Social Security and Medicare. Here?s what he told the right wing Hoover Institution, as reported by NPR:
?So we’ve got to protect today’s seniors. But for the rest of us? For – you know, listen. We’re going to have to come to grips with the fact that these programs cannot exist if we want America to be what we want America to be.? Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
It?s not really news that GOP leaders are really less interested in ?reforming? Social Security and Medicare than eliminating them; however, politically, it?s certainly unusual for it to be verbalized out loud. The preferred terms of art for those who share Majority Leader Cantor?s views are ?reform?, ?modernize? and ?protect for future generations?. Their cynical political strategy created and articulated as far back as the last major Social Security reforms in the early 80?s, was to ensure current day beneficiaries that they would be protected (the theory being seniors only care about themselves) and deliver the death blows to these programs to future generations who won?t really know what they?re missing ?until it?s too late.But the battle against President Bush?s privatization plan should have shown them that eliminating Social Security might create the kind of America Rep. Cantor dreams of but it?s certainly not the kind of nation working Americans want to bequeath to their children and grandchildren. Every industrial nation in the world provides some form of retirement security for their citizens. Suggesting that America can?t succeed if Social Security exists, ignores 76 years of history which proves just the opposite. America succeeds because Social Security exists. We do not want to turn back the clock to an America requiring poorhouses for our elderly with 50% of the nation?s seniors living in poverty. To an America where children who lose a parent breadwinner have no source of economic support and our nation?s disabled are forced to live institutionalized rather than independently.Our Congressional leaders shouldn?t want that kind of America either.Thankfully some in Congress don?t?Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) released this reaction tonight to Leader Cantor?s plans for Social Security. It’s clear that these are the members who are now on the front lines of the battle to define just what kind of America working Americans truly want. It’s up to us to ensure they don’t forget it.
Cutting Social Security: A Litmus Test for Leadership
One of our members asked us the other day?”Since when did cutting benefits for seniors living at or near the poverty level become the test of leadership in Washington?? Good question. The truth is, this campaign to cut America?s safety net has been generations in the making and has far more to do with political ideology than our current economic mess. As Paul Ryan says:
“This isn’t a budget. This is a cause.”
But will it be President Obama?s cause too? Media reports say the President will now endorse the recommendations made by Fiscal Commission Co-Chairmen, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson in a speech tomorrow. The Commission Chairmen?s recommendations (issued when it was the clear they couldn?t get the votes for a full Commission report) proposes deep benefit cuts in programs, like Social Security and Medicare. Under this proposal, middle class Americans and seniors will pay the price of Washington?s newfound zeal for deficit reduction. We talked to the Associated Press about our concerns:
?But now that Obama plans to propose his own changes in health care entitlements or Social Security, some of his own supporters are wary. They argue that the president ceded too much ground when he cut a tax deal with Republicans last December and in yielding spending cuts last week. “I want to have confidence, but I’ve got to see something,” said Barbara Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman and president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, an advocacy group. “They can’t continue to give in.” Many liberals say Obama has not been a strong bargainer. “Their weakness in getting the most out of negotiations is their strategic belief that they don’t want to be seen as fighting, they want to appear above the fray and beyond partisanship,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the labor-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “They also believe that they shouldn’t get out there on a position where they may not succeed. These are characteristics that make for a weak negotiator.”
It?s important that everyone understands what the Bowles/Simpson plan proposes for millions of American Seniors. Here is our analysis of the Commission?s Social Security and Medicare provisions.It?s clear that too many in Washington see Social Security and Medicare primarily as numbers on a balance sheet because ?that?s where they money is.? Cut benefits, raise the retirement age, reduce or eliminate the COLA, means test?these are the tools these budget cutters will use to repair the economic damage caused by years of borrow and spend policies that have absolutely nothing to do with Social Security. Contrary to all this rhetoric?balancing the budget on the backs of seniors is not fiscal responsibility and it?s certainly not political leadership.We will be watching the President closely tomorrow to see if he agrees.
Can You Afford $20,000 More a Year for Healthcare?
Not many people can– but that will be the price tag for seniors if the GOP Budget plan to eliminate Medicare and replace its guaranteed benefit with privatized CouponCare becomes law. The Congressional Budget Office says the GOP vouchers will (by definition) fail to keep pace with increases in health care costs meaning seniors will pay much more for the same benefits they receive now. In fact, according to the CBO, a typical senior will spend more than twice as much of his or her income under the GOP CouponCare plan compared to the current Medicare system.How much will this plan cost you? Here?s a wonderful interactive map, which allows seniors to see the impact of the GOP budget plan on your state. We warn you?the results are shocking:
GOP Plan is “Coupon Care” for Seniors
Congressman Xavier Becerra is one of Washington?s most ardent supporters of Social Security and Medicare. As a member of the President?s Fiscal Commission (he voted against the destructive Bowles-Simpson plan) and ranking member of the Social Security Subcommittee he is one of seniors? ?good guys? on Capitol Hill. Today he offered this frank assessment of what the GOP Budget plan proposes for middle-class America and seniors especially:?This isn?t a fiscal document this is a roadmap to poverty for middle-class Americans. This is a manifesto of GOP goals since the days of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Republicans have drained our surpluses and depleted our resources to convince the public that we must now shrink government.”?This is it ? this is the real deal. The fight for our future is on. It?s time to put our battle armor back on and arm up with the weapons we need ? the facts and the true stories about what these vital programs really mean to our nation.?Becerra met with members of the nation?s largest Aging Coalition, the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, today and described in detail how the GOP Budget would destroy Medicare, replacing it with little more than ?coupon care?. The Congressional Budget Office analysis shows seniors will pay much more for their healthcare ? which is no longer guaranteed by the government and instead managed by private insurance companies. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research?seniors won?t be paying just a little more, they?ll face $20,000 in additional healthcare costs under the GOP Budget plan??According to the CBO analysis the benefit would cover 32 percent of the cost of a health insurance package equivalent to the current Medicare benefit (Figure 1). This means that the beneficiary would pay 68 percent of the cost of this package. Using the CBO assumption of 2.5 percent annual inflation, the voucher would have grown to $9,750 by 2030. This means that a Medicare type plan for someone age 65 would be $30,460 under Representative Ryan’s plan, leaving seniors with a bill of $20,700. (This does not count various out of pocket medical expenditures not covered by Medicare.)?The GOP?s ?Coupon Care? plan for seniors replaces Medicare with a privatized system that gives insurance companies federal dollars to provide less care. Washington Monthly summed it up best:?I’d just add that some folks may have forgotten why Medicare was created in the first place. The nature of the human body is that ailments are more common as we get older, and profit-seeking insurance companies weren’t keen on covering those who cost so much more to cover. On average, folks who’ve lived more than six decades often have pre-existing conditions, and we know all too well what insurers think of those with pre-existing conditions. Seniors relied on this system for many years, but it didn’t work. We created Medicare because relying on private insurers didn’t work. And now Republicans want to roll back the clock.?
A Path to Prosperity-Unless you’re under 55, or poor, or widowed, or disabled, or a child who lost a parent, or middle class or have anyone in your family who is or ever will be
It?s clear GOP Budget Chairman Paul Ryan?s ?Path to Prosperity? budget plan is anything but for the vast majority of working Americans. The alleged core value of ?shared sacrifice? actually means sacrifice for everyone except corporations (especially insurers) and wealthy Americans. The House GOP leadership?s dream for America couldn?t be more clearly defined than in the budget plan unveiled today. More tax breaks for the wealthy and budget cuts for everyone else.For Americans who depend on Social Security and Medicare, this budget plan says ?tough luck?. For corporations that want even more tax loopholes and insurers who?d love the government to pay them to provide seniors less coverage at a higher cost, this budget is truly a dream come true. For working Americans; however, this budget is their worst nightmare. That?s the message we delivered today at a Capitol Hill news conference led by Families USA :?The Medicare provisions, in particular, will send this nation back to a time before Medicare was enacted, when over one-half of the senior population had no health care coverage at all. The Ryan plan would replace the current Medicare program with vouchers and leave seniors and the disabled ? some of our most vulnerable Americans ? hostage to the whims of the private marketplace. Over time, this will destroy the only health insurance program available to 47 million Americans. Vouchers are designed not to keep up with the increasing cost of health insurance? that is why they save money. Destroying Medicare and leaving millions of Americans without adequate health coverage is not a path to prosperity for anyone except for-profit insurers and the American people understand that.? Max Richtman, NCPSSM Executive Vice PresidentThat?s why nearly 100,000 National Committee members have signed letters to their representatives on Capitol Hill reminding them that cutting Social Security and Medicare is not the answer to our budget woes. Those letters have been delivered to Congress today with a clear message:?Social Security and Medicare belong to the American people who have paid (and are paying) into these programs in exchange for promised benefits. I urge you to reject any deficit reduction plans that cut benefits and, instead, support only those proposals that ensure the viability of Social Security and Medicare.?Here is just some of what the GOP budget plan would do:
- Eliminate Medicare and replace it with a privatized system where seniors get vouchers (however, Ryan?s new poll-tested language is now ?premium assistance payments?) to pay for health care. In truth, we prefer to call them ?coupons? since they really offer about that much assistance because the whole idea is that the voucher will never actually cover the true costs of healthcare. That?s where the government saves money. Under this scheme, taxpayers will pay insurers to provide less coverage while beneficiaries pick up more of the tab. Congressional Quarterly describes it this way:
?The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reviewed an earlier version of the plan and found it probably would lead to increased costs or reduced benefits for beneficiaries. ?First, most of the savings for Medicare under the proposal stem from reducing the amounts that the federal government would pay for enrollees on a per capita basis,? according to the CBO?s Nov. 17 analysis. ?Second, future beneficiaries would probably face higher premiums in the private market for a package of benefits similar to that currently provided by Medicare.?
- Social Security reforms will be fast-tracked. While the legislative language of Ryan?s plan doesn?t propose specific cuts (allowing them to claim ?we?re not cutting Social Security? before an election year) this legislation does create a new triggering mechanism and fast-tracked process for Social Security cuts which is unprecedented in the history of Congressional budget resolutions. The trigger language in this bill is designed to circumvent the current process in order to mandate fast-tracked reforms through Congress. And since this bill?s summary also rules out revenue changes, such as the most popular option for Social Security reform, raising the payroll tax cap so that the wealthier pay their fair share, what?s left? Benefit cuts. In fact, the Ryan plan?s summary endorses cutting future Social Security benefits for everyone who is earning more than $22,000 a year right now (while they?re working) ? which is the vast majority of Americans.
- Social Security Administration cuts. This budget also assumes a continuation of GOP budget proposals which undermine Social Security by cutting its administrative budget so deep that the SSA can?t process claims in a timely way to serve the public.
- Won?t pay back the Trust Fund. Rep. Ryan?s budget summary denies the federal government?s responsibility to repay the $2.6 trillion Social Security trust fund, built up by payroll contributions from generations of working Americans. This Budget plan states: ?Any value in the balances in the Social Security trust fund is derived from dubious government accounting.?
In other words, it was real money when you paid it into the Trust Fund but now House GOP leaders have declared those dollars just ?dubious government accounting.? Speaking of dubious accounting, some are already raising the red flag on this plan?s manipulation of the numbers.Make no mistake about it, House Republican leaders intend to use the current fiscal crisis, created by decades of borrow and spend policies to justify slashing programs which touch the lives of virtually every American family.This isn?t fiscal responsibility.But it does show just how large the disconnect between House Republican leaders and working Americans truly is because the American people will not support dismantling Medicare or cuts in Social Security. These are not the priorities seniors voted for last November and now?s the time to deliver that message.Take a moment and use our Legislative Action Center to send an email to your members of Congress. It?s easy and all you need to know is your zipcode. We must let Washington know Paul Ryan?s priorities are not America?s priorities.
GOP House Leader Wishes for an America without Social Security
Every once in awhile?and honestly, it doesn?t happen that often here in Washington?a politician says exactly what he thinks. He/she steps away from the party talking points and poll-tested language which purposefully confuses more than clarifies. We had one of those moments this week, when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor made it clear that the America he dreams of would abolish Social Security and Medicare. Here?s what he told the right wing Hoover Institution, as reported by NPR:
?So we’ve got to protect today’s seniors. But for the rest of us? For – you know, listen. We’re going to have to come to grips with the fact that these programs cannot exist if we want America to be what we want America to be.? Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
It?s not really news that GOP leaders are really less interested in ?reforming? Social Security and Medicare than eliminating them; however, politically, it?s certainly unusual for it to be verbalized out loud. The preferred terms of art for those who share Majority Leader Cantor?s views are ?reform?, ?modernize? and ?protect for future generations?. Their cynical political strategy created and articulated as far back as the last major Social Security reforms in the early 80?s, was to ensure current day beneficiaries that they would be protected (the theory being seniors only care about themselves) and deliver the death blows to these programs to future generations who won?t really know what they?re missing ?until it?s too late.But the battle against President Bush?s privatization plan should have shown them that eliminating Social Security might create the kind of America Rep. Cantor dreams of but it?s certainly not the kind of nation working Americans want to bequeath to their children and grandchildren. Every industrial nation in the world provides some form of retirement security for their citizens. Suggesting that America can?t succeed if Social Security exists, ignores 76 years of history which proves just the opposite. America succeeds because Social Security exists. We do not want to turn back the clock to an America requiring poorhouses for our elderly with 50% of the nation?s seniors living in poverty. To an America where children who lose a parent breadwinner have no source of economic support and our nation?s disabled are forced to live institutionalized rather than independently.Our Congressional leaders shouldn?t want that kind of America either.Thankfully some in Congress don?t?Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) released this reaction tonight to Leader Cantor?s plans for Social Security. It’s clear that these are the members who are now on the front lines of the battle to define just what kind of America working Americans truly want. It’s up to us to ensure they don’t forget it.