Republicans have been trying to kill Medicare for many years...

[kentuck]

They are just more emboldened this year because of the "debt crisis" they created for the very purpose of killing Medicare and other programs they do not like.
======================

<snip>
In 2009, 137 or their 178-member minority, including Boehner, voted for the Republican alternative budget, authored by -- whom else -- Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). That budget will sound familiar. It "

reserves the current Medicare program for individuals 55 and older. For those under 55, the resolution gradually converts the current Medicare program into one in which Medicare beneficiaries receive a premium support payment -- equivalent to 100 percent of the cost of the Medicare benefit -- to purchase health coverage from a menu of Medicare-approved plans, similar to options available to members of Congress."

...

Despite the similarities to the current GOP budget, dozens of Republicans defected from this plan, including many members -- like Dean Heller (R-NV) and Pete King (R-NY) to name two -- who just walked the plank on the 2011 version.

In 2007, a similar story played out when 159 of their 202-member minority, including Boehner, voted for Ryan's alternative. That version of his plan would have capped Medicare spending and cut it relative to the growth of health care costs, and would have imposed further means testing of the program. It didn't lay out the precise privatization scheme included in the 2009 and 2011 Republican budgets, but it envisioned "a reform strategy that will advance the transformation of Medicare into a vital and flexible program that can meet its mission without imposing unmanageable burdens on the Nation's medical community, and its economy."

Republicans have been at this about as long as there's been Medicare. But from time to time they make it obvious. In the 1990s, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich proposed a milder version of the current Medicare phase out policy. His version would have preserved traditional Medicare as an option alongside a privatized program, and incentivized seniors to drop out of the government plan. Here's how he famously described it in a speech to Blue Cross in 1996. "e don't get rid of it in round one because we don't think that's politically smart and we don't think that's the right way to go through a transition. But we believe it's going to wither on the vine because we think people are going to voluntarily leave it."

.....more

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/despite-what-boehner-says-republicans-have-voted-to-cut-medicare-repeatedly.php?ref=fpblg

[liberal N proud]

1. Since the day it was created.

[OHdem10]

2. Absolutely and many of us have ttrying to point this out for years.

Likewise they have been trying to privatize SS. Wall Street
has been salivating over all theat SS money especially as
Babu Boomers retire and begin to draw down their savings.
Yep, Walo Street wants some more gambing funds. Lyndon Johnso
ram am ad agaomst Barry Goldwater: Two hands holding a SS CARd
then the hands tear the SS Card in half. Goldwater wants fo
destroy SS.

Newt Gingrich wanted to let Medicare wither on the vine.

It is unfortunate that Democrats have not just as strongly
fought back and therefore permitted it to get this far.

These two programs have been in Republicans' crosshairs
since their inception.

The Media shares some blame also. They were gullible
enough to believe Republicans when they would deny.
They neglected to verify.

We are where we are. Are Democrats on the Hill ready
to put up a fight. The GOP is doubling down.and are
attempting to twist things in such a way. Do you want
us to cut Medicare or The Democrats. Democrats want
to cut Medicare too--this is their strategy. They will
throw the focus off their blunder and put the Democrats
out there appearing just as guilty as they are. I hope
the Democrats prepare themselves.