Reid Ribble Has Joined the War on Seniors. Send Him Packing in 2014!

Ribble Voted for the Ryan Budget’s Assault on Seniors

On March 21, Rep. Reid Ribble voted for the Ryan Budget with its assault on senior citizens. The Ribble-Ryan plan hurts seniors in several ways.

The Ribble-Ryan Plan Increases the Cost of Health Insurance to Seniors

First, it converts Medicare to a voucher plan. A senior can use the voucher to buy private health insurance or to buy Medicare. The amount of the voucher is pretty stingy and – more important – it will not grow as much as the expected cost of health care. So, each senior citizen will have to bear an ever-increasing share of the cost. According to the Center for American Progress, the plan would “force seniors to pay $1,200 more each year by 2030—and as much as $5,900 more each year by 2050.”

The Ribble-Ryan Plan Increases Prescription Drug Costs for Seniors

The Ribble-Ryan plan will increase the cost of prescription drugs for seniors considerably. It does this by repealing the Affordable Care Act, which gives a discount on the cost of drugs under Medicare Part D. Part D has a “donut hole,” a gap in coverage at a certain total cost per year. The Affordable Care Act gives a discount on drug costs for seniors in the “donut hole.” The Center for American Progress tells us that, “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that Medicare beneficiaries will save an average of $5,000 each through 2022. Medicare beneficiaries reaching the “donut hole” would save about $13,000 on average between 2014 and 2022. These savings would be lost entirely under the Ryan budget.”

The Ribble-Ryan Plan Increases the Cost of Long-Term Care for Seniors

The Ribble-Ryan plan will increase the cost of long-term care for seniors who depend on Medicaid. Long-term care is very expensive, and the Ribble-Ryan plan, by converting Medicaid to a block-grant program, will shift its costs to the states or to individuals. The size of the block grants will not increase as fast as the cost of long-term care, and the states are already strapped for money. So, who will pay the cost? The individual senior citizens, of course.

Defeat Reid Ribble in 2014!

All of this means that Rep. Ribble has signed on as a soldier in a War on Seniors.  He wants them to be worse off than they are now in order to fund the tax cuts for corporations and wealthy individuals that are part of the Ribble-Ryan plan. So, if you are a senior, or if you have parents who are seniors, or if you expect to live to become a senior, you should be working to defeat Rep. Ribble in 2014.

Do you want to be driven to bankruptcy by the cost of health care or long-term care for yourself or your parents? Do you want to be destitute in your old-age?  If your answer to these questions is, “No,” you should get busy and start working to send Reid Ribble packing in 2014!