Report: Out-of-Pocket Medicare Costs Double Under Republican Plan
More details out today on how the Republican move to balance the federal budget by ending Medicare would cost seniors a lot. A new state-by-state analysis by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) finds that annual out-of-pocket Medicare health care costs will more than double in every state for seniors turning 65 in 2022 under the Republican budget plan. Seniors living in Florida would be the hardest hit with a $7,383 jump in medical costs, the JEC estimates.
The report also shows that current Medicare beneficiaries will be harmed by the Republican budget, immediately losing preventive services such as mammograms and facing higher prescription drug costs. The Republican plan also would reopen the donut hole, the gap in Medicare Part D that had forced beneficiaries to pay 100 percent of their drug costs after they exceeded an initial coverage limit and until they qualified for catastrophic coverage.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), chairman of the JEC, says:
If Republicans have their way, traditional Medicare will no longer exist in 2022. Instead, our elderly will get a voucher to purchase private insurance, but the voucher won’t keep pace with health care costs. The result would be a staggering increase in out-of-pocket costs beginning in 2022. Our elderly Americans cannot afford to have their health care expenses double, but that’s exactly what the Republican plan delivers.
Click here for the state-by-state breakdown of the increase in out-of-pocket health care costs.
Lack of Jobs, Not ‘Generous’ UI Benefits, Keep Unemployed Jobless
You’ve really got to wonder if any of the Republican lawmakers, conservative think-tankers and right-wing bloggers who continue to claim that jobless workers would rather collect unemployment insurance (UI) benefits than find a job have ever lived in the real world.
Thankfully, it’s been a long time, but when I was collecting UI, I was busting my hump to find work because the $190 or so a week UI check didn’t go too far. Same thing with my wife when she was out of work back then. Everybody I’ve known who’s been on UI would gladly have traded that UI check for a paycheck. If you ask the nearly 15 million people out of work today—almost half for more than six months—they’d make the same deal.
Ozzie and Harriet Work Outside Home: Nation Needs New Laws to Balance Work and Family
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With more women working outside the home to make ends meet in the global economy, the demands of working and caring for a family are becoming increasingly difficult.
Now as the nation decides how to cope with recession, we have a prime opportunity to take the next step and create workplace standards that are good for the bottom line and for working families, several experts told a congressional committee today.
A hearing by the Joint Economic Committee on “Balancing Work and Family in the Recession” examined the current recession’s impact on trends in the workplace that help employees meet the dual commitments of work and family life.
Working America Executive Director Karen Nussbaum told the committee that without enforceable workplace standards, such as paid family leave, most employers will not take necessary steps to initiate basic policies that allow workers to balance work and family.
