More welfare for Wall Street

The fact that Mitt Romney’s so-called plan to balance the budget includes offering millionaires an average $390,000 tax break should be enough to end any policy debate. But add in the fact that he would pay for wasteful giveaways to the richest Americans is by gutting Medicare and you have to wonder how anyone who isn’t a millionaire might vote for Mitt Romney.

Mitt Romney’s plan to voucherize Medicare raises the eligibility age to 67 and shifts costs to seniors, who will pay far more for health care — $6,600 a year on average. Despite this, Romney’s Medicare plan will still cost taxpayers $39,000,000,000,000 MORE than our current Medicare system because private care is so inefficient.

David Rosnick and Dean Baker explain:

Based on the CBO data provided, the waste far exceeds the savings to the government. Under traditional Medicare, the government is expected to spend about $6,600 in 2022 on a typical 65-year- old, and the beneficiary is expected to spend $4,600 (all numbers in 2011 dollars). Under the Ryan proposal, a voucher for the same 65-year old would cost the government $6,600, saving the government nothing. However, the total cost of purchasing Medicare-equivalent insurance would be $16,900 – more than 50 percent higher than the $11,200 spent by the government and beneficiary combined under traditional Medicare. The difference of $5,700 represents a gift to the private sector.

Ryan’s updated Medicare plan includes a sort of “public option,” which means that all seniors will pay more but, for the ones who chose the government plan, the extra costs will be absorbed by the tax payers.

Why do Romney and Ryan want to change Medicare, the second greatest government program ever created (just after Social Security)? They claim it’s because it’s going bankrupt, a bullshit claim that has been made since the sixties.

The Affordable Care Act cut waste out of Medicare and expanded benefits to seniors. The Romney/Ryan plan shifts costs to seniors and sends trillions in taxpayer money to Wall Street while raising the debt. Anyone who pretends that this is a fiscally conservative solution needs to get off the bath salts.

[CC image by DonkeyHotey]