Letter: Newhouse supports plan to end Medicare as we know it
Congressman Dan Newhouse is supporting Speaker Paul Ryan’s efforts to end Medicare as we know it.
Paul Ryan’s plan is a scam. Ryan is not telling America’s seniors that they will be losing medical care under his proposal. Ryan’s plan calls for “giving” seniors a “premium support payment” of something like $500. That sounds great! That amount is to help seniors buy their own health insurance policy.
What Ryan does not tell seniors is that if this proposal becomes law, the insurance industry will 1. Raise premiums by $500 or whatever amount Ryan proposes, and 2. charge even more for “pre-existing conditions,” if they will provide any insurance at all. So seniors will be faced with the prospect of not being able to afford insurance, and then the Ryan plan will be complete.
No matter how the Republicans package their proposals, they all come down to this: “Hurry up and die, seniors. How dare you ask for health care, even if it is provided in every other civilized country in the world. You should know that only wealthy Americans who can afford the premiums (often as a perk from Big Corporations) are entitled to any healthcare.”
Rob Chandler, Sunnyside
This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 1:41 AM with the headline "Letter: Newhouse supports plan to end Medicare as we know it."