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Working as a rural family doctor the past 30 years, it is most disheartening to see someone who has worked hard all their life have a catastrophic illness which throws them into bankruptcy. We must ignore the negative TV ads and campaign rhetoric to determine which political party will preserve Medicare.
The U.S. House has passed the Ryan budget, (which Romney endorsed) which will fundamentally change Medicare as we have known it since 1965. The plan replaces guaranteed defined benefits with a premium support voucher which patients would use to buy private insurance. The Congressional Budget Office estimates a 65 year old by 2022 would pay $6,870 more out of pocket under the Ryan plan than with traditional Medicare. The plan slowly privatizes Medicare by shifting more cost and risk to the elderly.
The plan shrinks Medicare by raising the eligibility age to 67. This will be especially hard on people in physically demanding jobs. The Ryan plan takes our country back to the 1950’s when many elderly got sicker and died quicker due to inability to afford medical care.
The Affordable Care Act supported by the American Academy of Family Physicians provides a better path forward by preserving Medicare.
Scott Johnson, M.D.
Loveland, Colorado
This recent article by Dr. Scott Johnson from Loveland, Colorado in the Recorder Online is a frightening account of how Paul Ryan would put the current generation of 62+ at risk for spiraling into poverty, loss of income so great that at the age of 62+ it could not be recovered resulting in a sure and quick to death without hope. The fact that the U.S. House passed the Ryan budget (which Romney endorsed) leading us to a fundamental dismantiling of the Medicaire, one of the primary protectors for the aged against total dispair and hardship is unbelievable. I am asking those of good conscience to vote for President Obama and Vice President Biden to save this country from the completely disastrous policies of Romney and Ryan. The fullout attack on the Middle Class and Poor by Romney and Ryan is unconscionable. Romney and Ryan appear to value only the rich and would do anything possible to allow that upper 10% to 1% to maintain their decadent and selfish interests without any thought to what this country is about, our core values which cry out to allow a safety net for those less fortunate.