Claiming that Medicaid is growing too fast for the nation to afford, both the House Commerce Committee and the Senate Finance Committee have voted to end the federal guarantee of Medicaid benefits for the poor, elderly, and disabled. And saying that Medicare is going broke, Republicans in the House and Senate released Medicare plans that cut $270 billion from the program and increase the premiums paid by Medicare recipients -- senior citizens and the disabled."Outrageously, at the same time as they are cutting services to the very poor, the Republicans are proposing a $245 billion tax cut for the richest 12% of Americans, in the form of a capital gains tax cut and tax breaks for businesses," said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority.
"Half of all nursing home patients are funded by Medicaid," Smeal continued. "Cutting Medicaid means crippling the public health system in this country." The House plan also proposes requiring spouses and children of nursing home residents to sell all their assets, including houses and cars, before Medicaid benefits will be paid. In addition, Congress has proposed repealing federal nursing home standards, which prohibit patients from being drugged or tied down. Currently, Medicaid covers only 58% of poor Americans, the vast majority of whom are women and children.
The new Medicare plan proposed by the House claims to allow recipients to choose among a variety of insurance plans: a traditional plan that allows fee for service to the doctors the patient chooses, or health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and preferred physician organizations (PPOs), which limit the choice of doctor to those participating in the HMO or PPO. However, because the Republican plan doubles premiums on the traditional plan, raises the deductible, and limits the amount Medicare will pay for a service without any longer placing a cap on what the physician may charge the patient, many elderly people who cannot afford the higher premiums will be forced into HMOs or PPOs which limit their physician choice
"In essence, Medicare will be ended with this plan, and replaced with an inadequate voucher system and higher costs to Medicare recipients," said Smeal. Over 75% of Medicare beneficiaries have an annual income of less than $25,000.
The American Medical Association has endorsed the Republican Medicare plan, protecting the interests of physicians while the elderly pay more.