In an interview with the Huffington Post last weekend, Congressman Steve Israel commented that, “Mitt Romney this morning may have just become the most recent DCCC majority maker.” Steve Israel is trying to persuade senior citizens on Long Island and across the country that any Republican plan will severely cut Medicare funding. The facts simply do not support this statement and frankly, Steve Israel is attempting to hide a truth that is very damaging to his re-election as well as that of President Barack Obama.
Obamacare is the number one killer of Medicare funding for senior citizens. In April of 2012, before the Supreme Court upheld the Obamacare tax, trustees for Medicare forecasted that by 2024 it would not have enough money to make its full payouts. Despite this, Congressman Israel and the President have siphoned more than $740 billion dollars from Medicare in order to pay for Obamacare. These drastic cuts to Medicare will make it financially unstable much quicker than the trustees originally planned and hurt senior citizens who are on a fixed income.
Using data from the actuarial office of Medicare, over 50% of Long Island seniors currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) will lose this coverage due to cuts dictated by Obamacare. As a result, it will cost Long Island seniors over $3,700 per year in out-of-pocket costs to obtain the services they lost.
Obamacare is a bill that Steve Israel repeatedly supported, campaigned for, voted for, and upheld several times. When Senior citizens receive a mailer or phone call from Congressman Israel saying "he's protecting Medicare", they should ask..."how do you cut over $740 billion from Medicare and say you are protecting it? Seniors need to get behind a candidate who will repeal Obamacare, protect Medicare and put the program back on a path to fiscal stability. As your Congressman, I will vote to repeal Obamacare and put that $740 billion back into Medicare so we can keep our promises to our seniors.
