Two teabagger imperatives, not raising the debt limit, & giving retired seniors vouchers to pay for individual insurance on the private insurance market constitute a devastating attack by Republicans on two of the three legs of their own support stool the military and the wealthy elderly (last third, social conservatives).
According to the Congressional Research Service, the only way the U.S. may avoid having to increase the debt ceiling would be to eliminate nearly all discretionary spending, cut nearly 70 percent of spending on mandatory programs, increase revenue collection by nearly two-thirds, or make a combination of these steps in the second half of fiscal 2011.
source, Military.com
So why aren't Democrats attacking Republicans' strength (or perceived strength), their support for the military?
"Not raising the debt ceiling might imperil the troops -- military spending is discretionary spending, and that spending is the first to be cut if we cannot agree to raise the debt ceiling" -- why aren't we stressing this more?
As for the Ryan medicare plan, wealthy seniors have the most to lose most with Ryan.
Wealthy people either realize, or have financial managers to advise them, that the one thing that can actually wipe them out is an uninsured large expenditure. Now, there are only two things, really, that are potentially so expensive that a moderately wealthy person would get seriously dinged. One of these would be a liability claim (slip and fall on the property, say). But umbrella liability insurance is available to protect against that sort of thing, and for very reasonable rates.
What wealthy seniors, especially those with health problems, might not be able to get, though, is health insurance on the individual market if they have pre-existing conditions. And there, they are very screwed. A two month stay in the ICU for an uninsured wealthy (not investment-banker wealthy, just run-of-the-mill wealthy, net worth of 2-3 million) person could easily wipe out 10 - 30% of their total wealth. And how are seniors, automatically losing their employer-based coverage when they retire (unless they're in Congress of course) going to get health insurance when they've had a pre-cancerous mole removed, or have diabetes, or a heart condition, or...jeez, anything?
You ever tried, as a relatively young, relatively healthy person, to get insurance in the individual pool? It's a nightmare. Do you think John McCain, say, if he had to go out and get health insurance would ever, in a million, billion, trillion years qualify for a policy? If you're poor, uninsured end-of-life medical expense is a big financial "screw you" to the hospital, and/or medical provider and a big loss for the hospital/medical provider to be recouped on the backs of those who can pay. But if you're wealthy and uninsured, one heart attack, a bad bout with pneumonia, or just that last year of life that is so expensive for the elderly, takes away much of what you've earned for your entire life.
I haven't seen much of this talked about here on DKos or elsewhere. The Ryan plan fits into the larger "repeal and replace" mantra of Republicans on the Obama health bill, but part of what they would be repealing would be the guarantee of receiving health insurance with pre-existing conditions. Has any of them thought this through?
The only way for health insurance to work is the same way that all other mandated insurance programs work. The state, or the bank that owns your house with you, makes you pay when you don't need something (in this case, when you are young) incrementally for something that you will not be able to afford when you will need it. Throwing the population that needs care the most into the individual insurance pool at the very time they need insurance is like mandating that you only have to get car insurance when you're speeding through a red light, or if a bank that holds the mortgage were to say "you don't have to have insurance until that front lawn starts to smolder, but then you really better run out and get some" -- Does an insurance company issue insurance in those situations?
erm...no. Because they're FOR PROFIT. And there's no profit there.
The way to fight against this would be to show the offices of an insurance company reviewing the application for medical insurance from a 67 year-old senior, recently retired.
Jim: "Hey, Phil, look at this!"
[Phil comes over] "Whatcha got there, Jimbo?"
Jim: "It's hilarious, Phil, recently retired fellow applying for insurance, you gotta see this. He's got lower back pain..."
Phil: "uhoh, could be he'd need spine surgery, a laminectomy, how much do those run?"
Jim: "Jeez, Phil, $657,000..."
Phil: "Holy cow, anything else?"
Jim: "His wife has had a couple of suspicious moles removed, uhoh, and look over here, she's also had a..."
Phil: (interrupting) "You don't even need to read any further, Jim, lemme get the stamp...Thank God the Republicans rescinded Obamacare and we can reject people with pre-existing conditions. The retirement age: 67 years; average life expectancy: 78.7 years; average spending on the last year of life, more than $30,000. There's no way we make money on the $6,000, under the Ryan plan, the Republicans are giving seniors each year. And that's on people withOUT pre-existing conditions.
Jim: "How many of these retirees have pre-existing conditions?"
Phil: "Too many of them, Jim."
Jim: "I'd better stop saving for my kids' college education, and start saving to pay for health insurance after I retire. This is a hell of a thing, Phil. I sure wish we still had Medicare, and I could invest in the future instead of the past"
[closeup of a form, identifying information blocked out, big red "REJECTED" stamp applied over the handwritten information...]
[Fade to an older fellow and his wife, opening the mail. They look disappointed]
Narrator: "Medicare was enacted because older people who retire lose their employer-provided health insurance, and if they're already sick, they can't get private insurance they can afford. The Republican Ryan plan takes us into the past. Help save Medicare, and the future.
I guess we'll all have to go into the army to get veteran's guaranteed health care. But wait...if you don't raise the debt ceiling, there won't be that, either.