“Medicare, and America’s seniors, don’t have much time left under Obama plan,” 60 Plus’ Jim Martin

(Alexandria, Virginia) – The most recent budget President Obama submitted to Congress fails to make good on any of his promises to cut the deficit in half and reduce the influence of government in our lives, but does succeed in speeding the death of Medicare, according to 60 Plus Association Chairman Jim Martin, leader of the nation’s largest conservative seniors advocacy group.

“The President and his Democrat supporters in Congress have put Medicare on death row,” said Martin. “In every way imaginable, they are marching Medicare toward a painful and certain death that any court in the nation would overturn on grounds of cruel and unusual punishment.

“After bragging about cutting $500 billion to make money available for the President’s health care law, this Administration proposes cutting another $362 billion in the name of ‘efficiency.’  Medicare is now facing a tremendous fiscal crisis that the American Academy of Actuaries say will soon lead to 17% cut in benefits without severe and economically crippling tax hikes. And this is just the tip of disaster.

“The Democrats’ answer is to create the Independent Patient Advisory Board (IPAB), unelected and unaccountable backroom bean counters who will ration care to make up for the shortfall this President continually fails to address. IPAB won’t solve the problem, they are merely 15 pallbearers to help escort Medicare to its grave.

“Plain and simple, in every imaginable way Washington Democrats are pushing Medicare off a cliff, and gutting the program that millions of seniors and future retirees are counting on.  I challenge — and welcome — anyone explaining to me or the 7.1 million senior supporters I represent how the Democrats are not pushing to end Medicare as we know it.

“I applaud the courage of honest and sensible Democrats like former Representative Ron Klink (PA) who admit that the Obama plan will “gut Medicare,” and doesn’t want to see Medicare’s demise on his party’s watch. Unfortunately for him, that is the path his party has chosen, and tens of millions of America’s seniors will forever remember that the Democrats were the party who flipped the switch on Medicare.”

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