The story takes place on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, a road known for its danger and difficulty. There, a man, bloody and beaten, stripped of his clothes, lies half dead in the street. He’s just been ambushed; robbed of all of his possessions. Two men pass by: the first, a priest; the second, a man of privilege. Neither stops. The agony continues. A third man approaches; a Samaritan. He is moved with compassion. He treats the beaten man’s wounds, transports him to an inn, and pays for his room and board. Sound familiar? You bet. It’s the parable of the Good Samaritan. A story that Jesus told when a man asked him, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus had just explained to the man that there were two things that he needed to do in order to inherit eternal life. First, the man needed to have a relationship with God. Second, he needed to love his neighbors as he loved himself. That’s when the man, reluctant to help all those in need and desiring to justify his half-heartedness, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor? After telling the story, Jesus asked the man, “Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?” The man replied, “He who showed mercy on him.” To which Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
I can’t help but think that Jesus would be deeply disappointed with the Romney Ryan Budget.
1. Medicare Misconceptions:
Independent experts have calculated that the plan authored by Ryan would cut and shift onto seniors especially, increasing their costs by $6,350 a year. By repealing the Affordable Care Act, as they have proposed, seniors would also be faced with additional cut-and-shift effects, substantially increasing costs for prescription drugs, for instance. And the repeal of savings from Medicare reforms that decrease, rather than shift, costs by eliminating overpayments and fraud would actually reduce the insolvency date by eight years—from 2024 to 2016.
In addition, by offering a voucher to seniors to purchase private health insurance and by increasing the age of eligibility for Medicare to 67, the Romney-Ryan plan forces them into the old and severely flawed individual marketplace, where, because they have far less leverage and consumer protections, overall costs actually increase as access to coverage decreases.
Full Story:
Paul Ryan’s Medicare Misconceptions – The Daily Beast.
2. Social Darwinism
More than any other politician today, Ryan exemplifies the social Darwinism at the core of today’s Republican Party: Reward the rich, penalize the poor, let everyone else fend for themselves.
Dog eat dog.
Ryan’s views are crystallized in the budget he produced for House Republicans in March as chairman of the House Budget Committee. That budget would cut $3.3 trillion from low-income programs over the next decade. The biggest cuts would be in Medicaid, which provides health care for the nation’s poor – forcing states to drop coverage for an estimated 14 million to 28 million low-income people, according to the nonpartisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
Full Story:
Reich: Paul Ryan’s social Darwinism – Framingham, MA – The MetroWest Daily News.
3. Devastating The Poor
National media attention has focused on Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) drastic restructuring of the Medicare program, detailing the Vice Presidential candidate’s efforts to transform the current benefit guarantee into a “premium support” program for future enrollees.
But Romney/Ryan’s most devastating changes would impact programs that serve society’s most vulnerable citizens. American who rely on Medicaid, food stamps and Pell grants won’t be afforded the luxury of retaining their existing benefits, should Romney and Ryan implement their plans; these programs would experience immediate reductions if the Ryan budget becomes law (via CBPP):
Full Story:
4 Ways Paul Ryan’s Budget Would Devastate The Poor | ThinkProgress.