Lindsay Graham: I Will Destroy America’s Solvency Unless The Social Security Retirement Age Is Raised

Lindsay Graham: I Will Destroy America’s Solvency Unless The Social Security Retirement Age Is Raised: Although official Washington is currently fixated on the so-called “Fiscal Cliff,” the biggest threat to American prosperity is the debt ceiling, which must be raised in February to prevent economic catastrophe. If Republicans refuse to reach a deal on the so-called cliff, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that they will spark a new recession in [...]/p

GOP Senators Want To Take Debt Ceiling Hostage In Order To Raise Retirement Age

GOP Senators Want To Take Debt Ceiling Hostage In Order To Raise Retirement Age: Two Republican senators want to use the threat of an economic meltdown to raise the retirement age and cut Medicare. Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced a plan today that would raise the federal debt limit by $1 trillion in exchange for $1 trillion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, [...]/p

Don't Cut Social Security -- Double It | Alternet

Don't Cut Social Security -- Double It | Alternet
"Fiscal cliff chatter about slashing the venerable program ignores its fundamental potential and underlying strength."

Senator Bernie Sanders Voices His Strong Opposition To Cutting Social Security

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A Grand Swindle: What We Don’t Need Now Is a Bad “Grand Bargain” | Common Dreams

A Grand Swindle: What We Don’t Need Now Is a Bad “Grand Bargain” | Common Dreams
"It seems that since Nov. 6, many politicians forgot that the people they represent used their voice at the polls to stand up for working families and the programs they rely on. Democratic lawmakers should resist any “grand bargain” on the budget that protects the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us."

Rising to the Challenge: Results from a Scorecard on Local Health System Performance, 2012 - The Commonwealth Fund

Rising to the Challenge: Results from a Scorecard on Local Health System Performance, 2012 - The Commonwealth Fund
"People in the United States, regardless of where they live, deserve the same opportunities to lead long, healthy, and productive lives. Achieving that goal means that all communities should receive the very best from their local health care systems. Yet this newScorecard on Local Health System Performance finds that where one lives has a major impact on the ability to access health care and the quality of care received. "

Senate Democrats: Raising Medicare Eligibility Age Is ‘Absolutely Unacceptable’

Senate Democrats: Raising Medicare Eligibility Age Is ‘Absolutely Unacceptable’: Raising the age at which Americans qualify for Medicare from 65 to 67 has gained more and more prominence as one option to cut spending in a fiscal cliff deal. Although top Democratic leaders have ruled out the notion, the White House itself has not. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) informed the Washington Post’s Greg Sergeant [...]/p

5 Things Boehner Doesn’t Want You To Know About His Fiscal Cliff Deal

5 Things Boehner Doesn’t Want You To Know About His Fiscal Cliff Deal: 4) Very painful cuts for Medicare beneficiaries. Boehner is hoping to pressure the president into conceding even more spending cuts than are already on the table. This includes “very painful cuts to Medicare,” as Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) boasted. Medicaid and Social Security enrollees would also see their benefits gutted.

Don't Follow Republicans Into the Wilderness

Don't Follow Republicans Into the Wilderness
"Democrats created Medicare - and it's up to President Obama to save it from the Republicans' knives."

The GOP Secrets about Medicare...

Millions of senior citizens in the US rely on Medicare for access to life-saving healthcare - but Republicans in Congress don't seem to care. Why are they launching an all-out assault on Medicare - and what's the real motivation behind it?

4 Terrible Arguments for Raising the Medicare Age and Why They're Wrong | Alternet

4 Terrible Arguments for Raising the Medicare Age and Why They're Wrong | Alternet
"Here are four arguments for compromising on the Medicare age – and why they’re wrong."

The Way to "Save" Medicare Is to Expand It

The Way to "Save" Medicare Is to Expand It
"Medicare is broken. Medicare spending is out of control. Medicare will go bankrupt in 2024. If we don't act soon, Medicare will bankrupt the entire country.

Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong.

The whole US health care system is broken, but Medicare isn't what broke it. Medicare is the glue that holds it together. Without Medicare, the whole system would have collapsed long ago."

STUDY: Raising Medicare Eligibility Age Would Devastate America’s Most Vulnerable Seniors

STUDY: Raising Medicare Eligibility Age Would Devastate America’s Most Vulnerable Seniors: The Center for American Progress (CAP) today released a new study highlighting the devastating effect that raising the Medicare eligibility age would have on America’s seniors. CAP’s study finds that if lawmakers were to raise the eligibility age to 67, as many as 5.4 million 65- and 66-year-olds would have to search for alternative coverage [...]/p

4 Secrets Republicans Are Keeping About Medicare to Convince Us That $600 Billion in Cuts Are Necessary | Alternet

4 Secrets Republicans Are Keeping About Medicare to Convince Us That $600 Billion in Cuts Are Necessary | Alternet
"The Republicans are demanding $600 billion in Medicare cuts over the next ten years."

The Upcoming Supreme Court Case That Could Dramatically Reduce Health Care Costs

The Upcoming Supreme Court Case That Could Dramatically Reduce Health Care Costs: The Supreme Court is already preparing to take up several game-changing cases next year on issues ranging from human gene patenting to promoting the off-label use of drugs. And now the nation’s highest court is slated to hear another landmark case within the pharmaceutical industry that could have enormous ramifications for Americans’ prescription drug costs. [...]/p

Coburn: Medicare and Social Security 'Are Things We Don't Absolutely Need'

Coburn: Medicare and Social Security 'Are Things We Don't Absolutely Need'
"Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is encouraging Democrats to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits because the programs are "things we don't absolutely need"."

Republican Senator: GOP Should Hold Debt Ceiling Hostage As Leverage For Medicare Cuts

Republican Senator: GOP Should Hold Debt Ceiling Hostage As Leverage For Medicare Cuts: On Sunday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) conceded that Democrats have won the debate on raising taxes on the richest Americans and said that he would likely vote to increase rates on the top 2 percent of Americans in order to shift the debate to cutting entitlement programs and improve the GOP’s leverage in the debate [...]/p

Five Job-Destroying CEOs Trying to “Fix” the Debt by Slashing Corporate Taxes and Cutting Social Security Benefits | Alternet

Five Job-Destroying CEOs Trying to “Fix” the Debt by Slashing Corporate Taxes and Cutting Social Security Benefits | Alternet
"And it might be a good line — if not for some pesky real-world facts. You see the same corporations peddling this line have already been paying next to nothing in taxes. And instead of creating jobs, they’ve been destroying them. Here are five examples of job-cutting, tax-dodging CEOs who are leading Fix the Debt."

Paul Ryan Responds To Election Defeat By Swinging Even Further To The Right

Paul Ryan Responds To Election Defeat By Swinging Even Further To The Right: Rather than moderating his positions after November’s election, he has returned to an earlier, hard-line version of his controversial fiscal plan, including turning the guaranteed benefits of programs like Medicare and Medicaid into limited government checks, and even revisiting big changes to Social Security.

Justice Department Nabs Record $3 Billion From Health Care Fraud Settlements

Justice Department Nabs Record $3 Billion From Health Care Fraud Settlements: According to Modern Healthcare, the Department of Justice took in $4.9 billion in collections and settlements through the False Claims Act in fiscal year 2012 — an all-time high, largely bolstered by over $3 billion in collections from health care firms. The False Claims Act encourages whistleblowers to report fraudulent activities undertaken by private actors [...]/p

Senator Bernie Sanders Speaks Out For The Elderly And Working Americans

Wow...The middle class isn't going down without a fight

There's good reason why these CEOs want to target social safety nets like Social Security...it's because they don't need them. They're all sitting on massive retirement assets, averaging over $9 million each. Lloyd Blankfein himself has nearly $12 million in retirement assets. It's easy to call for cuts to Social Security when you know you won't need it. Well, in Washington, DC this morning - this "Fix the Debt" coalition invited Republican Senator Rob Portman for a panel discussion on how the debt can be fixed on the backs of the working class without rich CEOs sacrificing a single penny. Unfortunately for all those CEOs - today's panel didn't go according to plan - just watch the middle class fight back!

GOP Offers to Throw Middle Class, Elderly Over the “Fiscal Cliff” | Common Dreams

GOP Offers to Throw Middle Class, Elderly Over the “Fiscal Cliff” | Common Dreams
"The Republicans also propose to raise the Medicare eligibility age to 67, which would force 65 and 66 year olds to seek private, individual health care coverage on the open insurance market. And since they’d also repeal the new health care law, these older Americans would get no help in that process.  (Here are eight reasons raising the Medicare age is a terrible idea.)"

How An Obamacare Provision Has Saved Americans $1.5 Billion On Their Health Benefits

How An Obamacare Provision Has Saved Americans $1.5 Billion On Their Health Benefits: A new report from the Commonwealth Foundation finds that Obamacare’s “medical loss ratio” provision — the so-called “80/20 rule” requiring insurers to spend at least 80 percent of every Americans’ premium costs on patient care, rather than on their own profits or overhead — has resulted in a total of $1.5 billion overhead savings and [...]/p

Obamacare Has Saved Seniors $5 Billion On Prescription Drugs

Obamacare Has Saved Seniors $5 Billion On Prescription Drugs: Despite the fact that the cost of brand name drugs has skyrocketed over the past few years, one Obamacare provision is helping seniors on Medicare save billions on their prescription drug costs. Over the summer, data from the Centers for Medicare And Medicaid Services (CMS) showed that the Affordable Care Act had already saved 5.2 [...]/p

Ohio Senator Confronted By Constituents Over Support For Medicare And Social Security Cuts

Ohio Senator Confronted By Constituents Over Support For Medicare And Social Security Cuts: Ohio Senator Rob Portman (R) was one of a handful of Washington, D.C lawmakers and policy experts invited to participate in a panel discussion on the fiscal cliff on Tuesday morning, but his prepared remarks were temporarily derailed by about a dozen protestors who stood up, one at a time, to confront Portman over his [...]/p

Bernie Sanders: 'We Will Not Accept Cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid' | Alternet

Bernie Sanders: 'We Will Not Accept Cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid' | Alternet
"He wants us to start with a strong stand to keep billionaires from controlling our political process, as they are now attempting to do in the so-called fiscal cliff debate. "We will not accept cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid," he said to thundering applause at a New York City gathering on Monday night."

After Promising To Preserve Medicare For Current Retirees, GOP Demands Immediate Cuts In Fiscal Cliff Talks

After Promising To Preserve Medicare For Current Retirees, GOP Demands Immediate Cuts In Fiscal Cliff Talks: Throughout the election, Republicans tried to sell Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) Medicare reforms by arguing that the party’s proposed changes would not affect current seniors. “Our point is we need to preserve their benefits, because government made promises to them that they’ve organized their retirements around,” Ryan argued in his first interview after being named [...]/p

In Defense of Science: How the Fiscal Cliff Could Cripple Research Enterprise - The Atlantic

In Defense of Science: How the Fiscal Cliff Could Cripple Research Enterprise - The Atlantic
"Research is the only way we can improve upon diagnosis and treatments that will allow people to long, healthy, and productive lives. Solutions here can ultimately bring down health care costs -- the far bigger driver of our national indebtedness. It is the NIH that funds research on diseases such as diabetes, neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases, liver, kidney, immune-mediated diseases, you name it. And these are just the more common ailments. There are so many others less well known, often devastating, frequently genetic, that as a group cause enormous havoc to human health.

The only hope for patients and their caregivers is through research."

Faith Leaders Slam Rick Perry For Refusing To Expand Texas’ Medicaid Program

Faith Leaders Slam Rick Perry For Refusing To Expand Texas’ Medicaid Program: Even though Texas has the highest uninsurance rates in the nation — nearly a quarter of the state’s population lacks health insurance — Gov. Rick Perry (R) has refused to expand the Medicaid program, prioritizing his continued opposition to Obamacare over the opportunity to extend health coverage to an estimated 2 million low-income Texans. But [...]/p

No, raising the Social Security retirement age is not a good idea

No, raising the Social Security retirement age is not a good idea
"Social Security provides the majority of income for three-fifths of Americans over age 65; what's more, "for the poorest 40 percent of 65-and-older households, Social Security payouts constitute more than four-fifths of total income." The average monthly benefit is $1,230. That's $14,760 a year. If you begin collecting Social Security before your "full retirement age" of 66 or 67, your monthly benefits are reduced. Yet many Americans are faced with the choice of benefits reduced below that average of $1,230 a month or continuing to work in pain or in circumstances that threaten their health.

Many people who work behind desks and think raising the Social Security eligibility age would be a reasonable solution to the crisis they're told exists in the program are just suffering from a lack of imagination. But too many policymakers and wealthy CEOs and pundits know all this and still push an increase in the retirement age as a "sensible, fair" policy solution."

Republican Senator Demands ‘Very Painful Cuts To Medicare’

Republican Senator Demands ‘Very Painful Cuts To Medicare’: On Sunday, during an appearance on Meet the Press, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) reiterated his call for restructuring entitlement programs like Medicare, highlighting the “very painful cuts” he has proposed as part of a package to avert the fiscal cliff. Corker 242-page plan calls for a Paul Ryan-like proposal to transform the guaranteed Medicare benefit [...]/p