Here in Florida we’re getting a lot of political ads. One of the key topics in both the Senate race between Connie Mack and Bill Nelson and in the presidential race is Medicare. How would you evaluate the plans that each presidential candidate has for Medicare? Should senior citizens be concerned? (here)
Health care systems and single payer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
First, Mitt Romney’s plan is bunk. The voucher system will only feed more corporations while lessening the actual value of the service. Doing away with the closing of the donuts, etc… by Romney/Ryan will sooner than later destroy the safety net for the elderly.
But, the President’s plan is not the best either. Neither actually are seeking to solve the situation long term because no one has yet developed what a solution will actually look like.
Are cuts really what we need to save medicare? A voucher system?
This goes back to the basic problem of our health care system. Something like 90% or more of the country has access to only one brand of health insurance. It this was the case for any other industry, this would fall under the anti-trust laws, something health insurance is excluded from. Neither candidate, as far as I can tell, has actually recommended breaking up the insurance monopolies. Neither candidate is actually addressing the lingering problems of what to do with the elderly since the health care is so good.
The right to life is something I deeply cherish, but the right to life includes the right to a good life. So, medicare/medicaid is an important factor for me. I’m not an expert on the matter, but the cuts the President has proposed and carried through are beneficial in that they cut waste and expenses; yet, this will only help so long. Costs need to be curtailed.
The only way for this to work is a single-payer health care system.
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Other members of the Political Roundtable and their responses: Arthur Sido, Bob Cornwall, Elgin Hushbeck, Allan R. Bevere.
Related articles
- GOP Senate Candidate Tommy Thompson: ‘Who Better Than Me… To Do Away With Medicaid and Medicare?’ (surfer53.wordpress.com)
- Gallup: Obama Holds Medicare Edge Nationally And In Swing States (addictinginfo.org)
- Health Care is not the same as Health Insurance (roseylinn.wordpress.com)
- Where the candidates stand: Medicare and Medicaid (pbs.org)
- Poll: More trust Obama on Medicare (politico.com)
- ‘I’m the guy running for president, not him’ (politico.com)
- Romney-Ryan Medicare: No love for students, seniors (salon.com)
- Connie Mack disagrees with Ryan budget cuts to Medicare (tampabay.com)
Joel L. Watts holds a Masters of Arts from United Theological Seminary with a focus in literary and rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. His interests include exploring the role of mimesis in human civilization, specifically in the study of religion and media, as well as science fiction and the way in which it has allowed mythology to be explored in light of scientific discoveries of the past century. He is the author of Mimetic Criticism of the Gospel of Mark: Introduction and Commentary (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and a co-editor and contributor to From Fear to Faith: Stories of Hitting Spiritual Walls (Energion, 2013).
Website: → Unsettled Christianity
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