Hoekstra Has Embraced the Romney-Ryan Voucher Plan for Medicare Even Though It Would Cost Seniors $6,400 More Per Year
LANSING – Despite its overwhelming popularity and effectiveness, Pete Hoekstra has made dismantling Medicare and turning it into a voucher system a top priority for his campaign. Hoekstra has unabashedly joined the fight to end Medicare as we know it that has been led by Congressman Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential candidate. Tonight, Ryan speaks at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, leaving no doubt as to the GOP’s intentions for Medicare.
Pete Hoekstra was an early supporter of Paul Ryan’s plan to dismantle Medicare and turn it into a voucher system. Hoekstra would take away the guaranteed health care seniors have earned by paying their dues over a lifetime of work. Instead, he’d hand them a coupon and a good luck handshake.
With Medicare as we know it gone, seniors would be forced to go back to buying coverage from health insurance companies, with these vouchers only partially covering the cost — with seniors forced to foot the rest of their bills on their own.
Nonpartisan experts have said that Hoekstra’s plan would cost seniors as much as $6,400 more each year (with that cost increasing in subsequent years).
Statement from Mark Brewer, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party:
“By fighting to end Medicare as we know it and turn it into a voucher program, Pete Hoekstra has put the profit margins of insurance companies before the health and well-being of Michigan’s seniors. If elected to the Senate, Hoekstra has promised to work to dismantle Medicare and raise costs on seniors, while handing out massive tax breaks to the special interests that are supporting his campaign.”
The Hoekstra/Ryan plan uses the savings from dismantling Medicare to give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. It also gives control over health care decisions to insurance companies, putting special interests between seniors and their doctors, and forcing Michigan’s most vulnerable to choose between essential health care and other essential needs.
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