Thanks, Joe Walsh. You ARE Destroying Medicare.

Many, um, older voters in the 8th District recently received this mailer about Joe Walsh. "Thank you. Congressman Joe Walsh," it says. "For Voting to Improve and Protect Medicare." Wha? Didn't he just vote for the Ryan Budget (HR3) that would give $6000 insurance vouchers to Medicare recipients in order to afford to give MORE tax cuts to the rich? Yes, he did.

So what could this possibly be? Another bill that will save Medicare from being destroyed? Hardly. Let's pick it apart, shall we?

1. "Thank you, Congressman Joe Walsh for voting to improve and protect Medicare." In Congressman Walsh's opinion, expressed at his town halls, Medicare is irretrievably broken so "something" must be done to "save it." Yes, HR3 will save the government money on Medicare. It will give seniors vouchers for approximately $6000 to go onto the private insurance market and replace their Medicare with insurance. This assumes that insurance companies want to insure people who are highly likely to become sick. Does Joe Walsh believe in the tooth fairy, too?

2. The smiling seniors in the photo are NOT voters in the 8th District, happily endorsing Joe Walsh. They are actors. The image can be purchased, for not very much money, from istockphoto.com.




3. The back of the brochure, there is a headline: "Ending Waste and Abuse in Medicare." HR3 does nothing to accomplish this except promote shorter lives among seniors who can't get adequate (or any) medical coverage. Death panels, indeed.

4. Continuing down the list of "benefits" of HR3 (all posted in blood-red, no less):

"Waste is dramatically reduced."According to conservative site TheDaily.com, "Rep. Ryan wants to squeeze out such waste by turning Medicare from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan. This means that instead of paying for a limitless array of medical services for every senior, as is the case now, the government will give seniors a fixed annual sum to use toward their health coverage. Stripped of doublespeak, that means sick people cost too much. When you run out of coverage, tough luck. It will save the government lots of money if you just die. So we can give tax breaks to the rich. (Also no mention of getting rid of actual waste like money that will now be spent fighting our insurance claims. Did you notice that?)

"Current Medicare recipients are protected -- no changes for people 55 and older." People 55 and older would have to be living in caves not to care about someone younger -- children, grandchildren, anyone? -- who would be hurt by this when they get older.

"Sick and poor seniors would actually receive more money for their Medicare coverage."
Yes, they'll get a bigger "insurance support" than healthier, wealthier seniors. But which group do you think insurance companies will run to give coverage to? One guess.

"And future generations will have better sources for their health care as they grow older." If you like being at the mercy of the insurance companies now, wait until you get old and sick!

And the real kicker: Paid for by 60 Plus Association...

What might 60 Plus be? They were founded in 1991 by right-wing direct mailer Richard Vigourie. And according to John Rother, executive vice president of AARP, an independent investigator hired by them found that 60 Plus is a corporate front group sponsored primarily by the pharmaceutical industry. What interest might big Pharma have in enacting Medicare "reform"? Oh, maybe the fact that Medicare limits the amount of money that can be spent on name brand drugs? Nah, that couldn't be it.

Thank you, Joe Walsh, for being on the side of big pharmaceutical companies and rich people who want tax breaks.

(We can't wait to dig into Joe's Federal Election Commission filings next quarter.)