Ahead of President Obama’s speech on Wednesday, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is collecting signatures for a letter to the President urging him to stand up to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and his proposal to privatize Medicare.
“The House Republican budget for Fiscal Year 2012 would end Medicare as we know it and throw seniors into the private market with no more than an insufficient voucher to offset the rising cost of private health insurance,” a draft of the letter, which was first reported by Greg Sargent, reads. “So-called ‘premium support’ - giving seniors a voucher of approximately $8,000 as proposed by the Republican budget - is a reckless and irresponsible way to address the health care needs of older Americans.”
In addition to warning of the effect the proposal is projected by the CBO to have on seniors, many of whom would see much higher medical costs and potential difficulty finding insurance at all, the Brown letter condemns GOP efforts to repeal “the only credible means of restraining health care costs - the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”
Brown’s effort comes as some on the left are fretting that the White House could propose its own significant cuts to Medicare in Obama’s speech tomorrow.
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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