Need to have a sign that reads, “Keep Republicans out of my Medicare.”
Here’s an idea: Increase taxes.
What does he mean it is not working?
Got to love the GOP, Maybe some one ought to take a poll of Medicare recipients to see how they like it. But no we get polls on how we like Trump and he isn’t in office yet.
“i’m open to good ideas” - in other words, I don’t have a clue.
Remember when Democrats were accused of using demagoguing older Americans by claiming Republicans wanted to kill Medicare ? This was used to show that both sides exaggerate. Guess that the charge of wanting to kill medicare was wrong only in its timing, not in its substance. I know that they say “privatization” but I also know that privatized medicare is NOT medicare as we know it.
Wait. Democrats are supposed to go along with Medicare destruction in order to help Trump carry out his agenda? Is this guy for real?
Fixing is not the same thing as phasing out.
And it’s not just Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid will be on the chopping block as well. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have been salivating at the prospect of finally being able to sink their hooks into Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Millions of Americans depend on those programs for their very survival and what will they do when they are “privatized”, ie starved out of existence?
I understand and agree that Democrats should work with Trump and even with Congressional Republicans on legislation that improves lives and is consistent with liberal principles. But why on earth should Democrats cooperate with Republicans to give them “cover” in legislation that will prove to be an historic disaster? The dismantling of Medicare, which is a system that works very well to provide health insurance for the elderly, in favor of turning this over to the private market is an insane idea that will inevitably make health insurance more costly and subject to the whims and profit motives of private insurers, is a terrible idea. Medicare works well, and would be even better if the Federal government allowed itself to negotiate prices with the drug companies.
It’s possible this is Hatch’s way of saying they aren’t going to do this, since he has to know that the Democrats aren’t going to go along.
No, he is not. He is setting up his reason for opposing the legislation in advance. That’s probably one down. Two to go (in order to defeat any attempt at change through reconciliation). My colleague said he does not think anything that materially alters Medicare will be done through reconciliation. Even if that’s what Ryan would like to do, there are too many people who are not as ideologically invested with it as he is. Those people will insist on proceeding by normal order.
Think about all the Republicans who spent the better part of the last five years whining that the ACA was not bipartisan. Of course, it was their own damn fault that they refused to participate. But at bottom, these guys are careerists and they want equal opportunity blame.
I may be alone in this opinion, but I think Hatch is one of the better Republican Senators. He was around before Rep. Newt Gingrich turned Congressional partisan politics into a blood sport. Hopefully he can provide a brake in this seeming headlong plunge into disaster.
The Democrats should not in any way help with this.
Old folks love their medicare, and more importantly, need their medicare. Trump specifically said in his campaign that there would be no cuts to medicare and social security. If ANY cuts are to be made, there should be no Democratic fingerprints on it. Nope. Make rhe Republicans OWN this one!
Orrin Hatch was Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s champion. Clinton asked for a suggestion of a Supreme Court nominee, and that came from him. He is also the one who mentioned Merrick Garland as a great choice (and then still wouldn’t consider him). He comes from a different age when bipartisan work was possible, but he’s sure done a good job of squelching those impulses lately.
No he’s unreal. Reality is too liberal and G-dless and stuff. Orrin’s going to have a word with Him about His straying from the “straight and narrow” path 
So…you need Democratic votes to give you cover…AND you need this to pass in order to pay for the rest of Trump’s insane agenda?
“For some people, you’d have to have premium support,” where “some” means the vast majority.
Here’s some simple arithmetic for you Orrin. In 2015 Medicare paid $632 billion in benefits to 55 million participants, or ~$11,400 per person. If you limit private insurance companies to the 80% loss ratio in the ACA, something a free market Republican would be loath to do, the annual premium would be more than $14,000. Add to that the ~$3,500 I pay for Part B, Part D and Medigap.
Your homework assignment, sir, is to obtain binding quotes from private insurance companies that will provide the same coverage to a group consisting solely of those age 66 and over with no exclusion for preexisting conditions. Then get back to me on the amount of premium support you will offer so I can make an informed decision on whether you should just fuck off and die.
I agree that he has made a turn for the worse in recent years. I think a turning point for him was when his colleague Sen. Richard Lugar was primaried in 2010.
Still, IIRC correctly he has done good work. Didn’t he work with Sen. Ted Kennedy on the Americans with Disabilities Act?