Statement by Joe Baker, President of the Medicare Rights Center
on the House Budget Proposal

New York, NY—Today, the U.S. House of Representatives released a proposed budget resolution that would take health care away from poor and middle-class families in order to give tax breaks to millionaires, billionaires, and big corporations. Make no mistake, this budget would deeply cut the Medicaid program and end the Medicare program as we know it.

This House scheme would grind away at traditional Medicare, funneling younger and healthier retirees into private health plans and leaving older, sicker beneficiaries in the traditional Medicare program. Providing coverage for this vulnerable population will make traditional Medicare more expensive and less able to compete. In short, the House budget preserves Medicare in name only.

At the same time, the plan forces seniors and people with disabilities to pay more for less. The House budget would raise the Medicare age of eligibility and force middle-class beneficiaries to pay higher premiums.

To secure Medicare’s future for years to come, Congress must reject this plan and instead look to responsible options to reduce health care spending, like obtaining lower prices for pharmaceutical drugs and advancing the delivery system reforms made possible by health care reform. Medicare’s financial outlook is strong. Adoption of this budget would only serve to dismantle that success.

Press Contact: Mitchell Clark – mclark@medicarerights.org

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