DELAURO: REPUBLICAN BUDGET WILL END MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT

Proposed cuts would lead to higher costs, less services, and breaking our promise to generations of Americans

Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) visited Tower One/Tower East today and held a discussion about the changes made to Medicare and Medicaid in the recently passed House Republican budget for 2012 and the impact it will have on seniors in Connecticut.

The Republican budget for 2012 to change Medicare to a voucher program, shifting higher costs onto seniors, ending the recommended preventive health services –like mammograms, colonoscopies, and wellness exams -- that are provided for free by Medicare to every senior in America, and threatens health care funding for long-term care and people with disabilities.

“For over fifty-five years, Medicare has ensured that all our seniors, after decades of service to their communities, have access to quality health care. But, instead of working to reduce the deficit in a common-sense way, the majority’s budget proposes to end Medicare as we know it. They would turn Medicare into a voucher program, shifting thousands of dollars in costs every year onto the backs of seniors.

“Seniors will have to use these vouchers to find insurance from private companies, and these plans will have to be renewed every year. Plus, the vouchers are simply inadequate and would make health care less affordable for seniors. For example, the average 65- year old will be eligible for $8,000 in premium support in 2022—but the total cost of health insurance and care would total $20,513—a difference of $12,513.

“Additionally, more than 500,000 people in Connecticut are insured through Medicaid. The proposed Republican budget cuts could reduce benefits, lower the number of Americans served by the program, and shift costs to our already over-burdened state.

“The proposed Republican budget makes choices that will harm American families, asking the deepest sacrifice of our seniors who have given a lifetime of hard work and deserve a dignified retirement. This is not the right way for our country. What I learned from my parents is a fundamental set of values – that we have intergenerational responsibilities that we should live up to. Ending traditional Medicare and cutting long-term care to pay for tax breaks for the rich and companies like GE that pay no taxes is a gross violation of that responsibility.

“We should not be targeting Medicare to cut the deficit. We should represent the common-sense, mainstream priorities of the American people. We have to do what is right, and that means standing up for seniors, and standing up for Medicare.”