CMA Health Policy Blog

Class Warfare? Discuss.

September 18, 2011 at 11:56 pm Judith Stein Leave a comment

To reduce the deficit, the President suggests we increase taxes for the 430,000 Americans who have incomes above $1 million. The Republican leadership (Boehner, Ryan, McConnell and Graham) say that’s class warfare.  They say it’s unfair to balance the budget at the expense of these few rich people (0.3% of the population).  Instead, they say, we should look to reduce spending – only.  In particular, we should cut Medicaid and Medicare.  

47  million older and disabled Americans are enrolled in Medicare.  58 million poor children, pregnant women, older and disabled people are enrolled in Medicaid. 

Query:  Why is it class warfare to tax a little more the few of us who are lucky enough to be millionaires, but it’s not class warfare to cut health care coverage for the vast number of us who are enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid?   Discuss.

Entry filed under: Access to Health Care, Bipartisanship, Deficit Reduction, Health Care Reform, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Reform, Vouchers. Tags: Corporate Greed, Deficit; Medicare, Health Care Reform, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Reform, voucher.