The GOP plan for the federal budget, aka the Paul Ryan Path to Poverty, is looming over Americans like the Sword of Damocles. It targets the poor, and the elderly, and hands out more money to the corporations and the wealthiest among us.
House Democrats have come out with research and a map/tool which you can use to determine how the GOP plan for Medicare and Medicaid will affect your district or state or city.
As an example, a brief passage from the impact on Chicago pdf:
The Republican proposal would have adverse impacts on seniors and disabled individuals in the district who are currently enrolled in Medicare. It would:
- Increase prescription drug costs for 4,800 Medicare beneficiaries in the district who enter the Part D donut hole, forcing them to pay an extra $47 million for drugs over the next decade.
- Eliminate new preventive care benefits for 75,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the district.
The Republican proposal would have even greater impacts on individuals in the district age 54 and younger who are not currently enrolled in Medicare. It would:
- Deny 550,000 individuals age 54 and younger in the district access to Medicare’s guaranteed benefits.
- Increase the out-of-pocket costs of health coverage by over $6,000 per year in 2022 and by almost $12,000 per year in 2032 for the 98,000 individuals in the district who are between the ages of 44 and 54.
- Require the 98,000 individuals in the district between the ages of 44 and 54 to save an additional $22.9 billion for their retirement – an average of $182,000 to $287,000 per individual – to pay for the increased cost of health coverage over their lifetimes. Younger residents of the district will have to save even higher amounts to cover their additional medical costs.
- Raise the Medicare eligibility age by at least one year to age 66 or more for 56,000 individuals in the district who are age 44 to 49 and by two years to age 67 for 456,000 individuals in the district who are age 43 or younger.
I added bolding to some of the text, but I stopped doing so very quickly because ALL of it should be bolded. Also, this excerpt is just a part of the first page out of 4 pages for Chicago.
You can access the information for your area by visiting this map, clicking on your state, district or city, and reading the report.
Keep in mind that the biggest change to Medicare would be the use of a voucher system, a system which would end Medicare as we know it, and impoverish millions.
