Thornberry Votes To Abolish Medicare

U.S. House District 13 sits at the top of Texas (represented in pink on the chart above). It is a large and mostly rural district that runs from east of Wichita Falls (pop. 100,000) to Amarillo (pop. nearly 200,000) and on to the northwest corner of the Panhandle (a distance of more than 300 miles). The district has been a very safe one for Republicans and is currently represented by Rep. Mac Thornberry.

But as safe as this district is for Republicans, I have a hard time believing the voters of District 13 will approve of Thornberry's latest vote in Congress. That's because Thornberry (along with all Texas Republicans except Ron Paul) has just voted to give the rich another tax cut and finance that by abolishing Medicare. Thornberry and his Republican cohorts have decided that voters will value passing the Ryan Budget Plan and cutting the deficit more than they value keeping the Medicare program.

Thornberry defended his vote by saying, "This budget represents some tough, but necessary, choices for our country and its citizens. If we do not take significant action, we may be the first generation of Americans that fails to leave the country in better shape than we found it. On the other hand, if we do take action, the economy can begin to grow again, jobs will be created, and living standards will improve. This budget gives us that chance."

What a load of horse manure! The Ryan plan is nothing more than taking the failed Reagan/Bush "trickle-down" economic policies to their logical conclusion -- that if rich people are given more and more money they will eventually share some of it with the rest of us. All that did in the last thirty years was depress wages for American workers and give the rich record profits -- creating the largest wealth and income gap since before the Great Depression and throwing the country into the current recession. There is no evidence this policy will "magically" do anything different now.

But what makes the Ryan plan even worse than the Bush/Reagan policies is that the Republicans now want to finance their tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the elderly. They want to abolish Medicare and replace it with a voucher system, that they say will allow the elderly to buy their own private insurance. But that government voucher will be only $8000, and that is not going to buy insurance for an elderly person. The young and middle-aged would be lucky to get a good private insurance policy for that amount.

That's because the insurance companies know that people over age 65 (those covered by Medicare now) are guaranteed to start having some health problems, and they would have to pay far more in payments for medical treatment for the elderly than for people lower in age. This means they would charge much more in premium fees for insurance to cover the elderly, and it will run a lot higher than the $8000 voucher -- probably twice that much or more. After all, the insurance companies are in business to make profits, not pay medical bills.

The result of the Republican plan would be that many of the elderly, especially those living on a fixed income (like Social Security), would not be able to purchase the expensive private insurance. They would be forced to go without medical care, and their lifespans would be severely and unnecessarily shortened.

I can't believe the aging population in District 13 really wants this to happen. I don't believe they elected Thornberry to abolish Medicare and use that money to give more tax cuts for the rich.

In the last election District 13 was considered so safe a district for Republicans that the Democrats didn't even field a candidate. Democrats need to change that in 2012 and put a good candidate in the race -- a candidate that will campaign vigorously on saving Medicare from Republicans like Mac Thornberry.

The Republicans have made a serious mistake by voting to abolish Medicare. The Democrats need to beat them over the head with that mean-spirited vote all the way to election day -- even in Republican districts like Texas District 13.