Posts Tagged ‘Romney Ryan’

by U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, represents the 15th Congressional District.

“The estimated exhaustion date for the Medicare trust fund remains at 2024.” You read that right. Medicare, as we know it, is bankrupt in 10 years. So if you are a senior and plan on living more than 10 more years, if President Obama is re-elected, you better start planning to pay your own way. You would not know this stark fact from reading media accounts that are grossly disingenuous and factually vapid regarding the Romney/Ryan plan for Medicare. Nor would you know that the first line in this response came straight from the president’s own appointed Medicare Trustees.

You see, beyond raiding over $700 billion in Medicare revenues to finance Medicaid expansion (Social Security recipients will find this raid eerily familiar) and appointing 15 bureaucrats to control prices, the most disgusting part of the president’s ongoing Medicare charade is that “Medicare as we know it” is gone in less than 10 years, even after Obamacare,and he does absolutely nothing to fix it.’

I ran in 2010 as a strong supporter of Paul Ryan’s Medicare fix. I couldn’t care less about re-election; I ran to fix the problem. The truth is, seniors, like everyone else, are tired of being lied to.

As someone with a record of telling my party when I think it is wrong, I can say, without hesitation, that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are the only candidates in this race with a real plan to preserve and strengthen Medicare for today’s seniors and for future generations. How can I say that? Simple.
Under the Romney/Ryan plan, nothing changes for those 55 and older. You paid into Medicare and planned your retirement around it; and it will be there for you. But Medicare either changes or it dies for those close to retirement or who want to live more than 10 years. It is just that simple.

So what does the Romney/ Ryan plan do to save it? It puts in place systems that are proven to work everywhere, but takes power away from Washington. Two things that cut the heart out of the status quo.
First, future beneficiaries would be given the power to choose from a set of Medicare-approved plans, or the existing “traditional” fee-for-service plan. Contrary to claims, seniors would not receive a “voucher,” nor would anyone be denied coverage. If a company covers one senior, they must cover them all. Much like Medicare Advantage, which is overwhelmingly popular with current seniors, the Romney/Ryan plan would give current and future seniors control, not Washington.

They would get better quality health care. Why? Because currently Medicare has no incentive to improve quality, reduce fraud or provide service. They are the only game in town, and they know seniors have nowhere else to turn. That is unfair to seniors and spells the demise of quality.

The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported, in a story titled, “The Medicare Advantage Success Story” that, “Medicare Advantage plans outscored fee-for-service Medicare on 9 of 11 [care quality] measures.” The same program that allows seniors to shop amongst private insurers and
choose a plan that is most cost effective and coverage specific, is also delivering superior care at a lower cost. Even the Obama administration knows this. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said earlier this year, “The program [Medicare Advantage] is stronger than ever with improved benefits and lower costs… as we projected in September, Medicare Advantage premiums have fallen by an average of seven percent while enrollment has risen by about 10 percent.”

Translation: Costs continue to fall, and seniors are getting greater bang for their buck.
Competition has worked for seniors and taxpayers in the Medicare Prescription Drug Program as well. The Obama administration recently announced that, “Federal spending on Medicare drug benefits has been about 30 percent lower than the Congressional Budget Office predicted when the drug legislation was passed in 2003.” How many government programs ever came in under budget? The fact is, competition works to improve quality and reduce costs in everything from auto insurance, soda, auto sales to cellphones, TVs and computers. It will do the same for seniors.

Besides more choice and lower costs, coverage and services the Romney/Ryan plans provide would be required to be at least as good as those beneficiaries receive today. Medicare would also provide seniors with defined financial support — more for low- and middle-income seniors — to help them purchase a plan that best fits their needs. Seniors will be allowed to keep the savings from less-expensive options, or they may choose to pay more for costlier plans.

Requiring insurers to compete against each other, across state lines, to provide the best value to seniors will cause health care quality to improve and costs to decline, thus securing the program for their kids and grandkids.

This is not merely an academic argument as to the path forward. Nor can anyone tell you that Obama has a plan to fix it. The clock is ticking; the cliff is approaching. Romney and Ryan are being honest. It is time the media try doing the same.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, represents the 15th Congressional District.

Don’t Laugh to Loud
“We have plenty of time for big rallies,” a campaign spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said between the rallies on Thursday. “Our focus right now is on exciting our supporters and winning over undecided voters and the smaller and medium-size events are the best venue to accomplish that because the president can closely engage with the crowd.

”Big rallies are expensive, especially given the logistical and security challenges for a president as opposed to a mere United States senator. And Obama campaign operatives, both at the Chicago headquarters and in swing states where Mr. Obama recently has stumped, say the campaign intentionally limits crowds by restricting tickets. The reason is to allow the president to better connect with supporters, aides say.The presumptive GOP presidential and vice presidential nominees Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan are attracting thousands of supporters to their campaign rallies since Mr. Romney named Mr. Ryan to the bottom of the ticket. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has taken notice of the massive crowds at the Romney Ryan stump speeches and sent out an urgent e-mail to their supporters, reported The Washington Examiner last week.

However, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are not drawing the crowds they once could. The New York Times reported that the Obama campaign said that it is intentionally limiting crowd size at their events because of security and cost:
“We have plenty of time for big rallies,” a campaign spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said between the rallies on Thursday. “Our focus right now is on exciting our supporters and winning over undecided voters and the smaller and medium-size events are the best venue to accomplish that because the president can closely engage with the crowd.”

Big rallies are expensive, especially given the logistical and security challenges for a president as opposed to a mere United States senator. And Obama campaign operatives, both at the Chicago headquarters and in swing states where Mr. Obama recently has stumped, say the campaign intentionally limits crowds by restricting tickets. The reason is to allow the president to better connect with supporters, aides say.

The Romney campaign told the New York Times that the smaller turnout at Obama events shows there is an “enthusiasm gap” for Obama.

A Romney spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, provided photos of three packed events: 5,000 at a Memorial Day weekend rally in San Diego, 2,200 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, in March, and 4,200 in Denver in mid-February. More typical appearances draw 300 to 500 people. An event in Ohio three weeks ago attracted about 400, with about 100 more in an overflow room. Last week in Colorado, Mr. Romney spoke to about 200 people at a school in Basalt.
Over 10,000 fellow Wisconsinites cheered on Rep. Ryan almost a week ago and thousands welcomed him on Saturday to the Florida retirement community known as The Villages.

Read more: PICKET:Obama camp – We are intentionally limiting crowd size at rallies – Washington Times

By Michelle Zook

So here’s what this election doesn’t boil down to:

Not if Paul Ryan is an ideologically pure conservative. Because, let’s face it, the only person who will ever pass your own ideological purity test is yourself.

Not if Paul Ryan has voted in the past in ways we don’t like. Because even Reagan was once a Democrat.

Not if Rand Paul would have made a better VP choice. Because as a right-leaning libertarian, that was my hope, too. I wanted Rand Paul on the ticket to bring in the libertarian votes and the people who felt like Ron Paul got shafted along the way. I wanted Rand Paul for the people who felt like our Constitution is getting torn to shreds and who feel like they’re not being listened to and the people who have lost all faith in our government, but in Ron Paul’s run, saw hope.

What it does boil down to is the future of our kids. We cannot continue this path and four more years of Obama is four more years that we cannot afford. We cannot afford four more years of Eric Holder and more scandals like Fast and the Furious, or the suppression of voter ID laws.
We cannot afford four more years of Janet Napolitano and the increasing erosion of our Constitutional rights. We cannot afford four more years of Harry Reid refusing to even consider a budget or four more years of Nancy “You have to pass that bill to know what’s in it” or four more years of governing by executive fiat. We cannot afford four more years with the possibility of Obama getting at least two more Supreme Court justice nominees.

And that’s why I’m a big fan of Paul Ryan. I’ve made no secret to my friends and family that Romney wasn’t my first choice…or second…or third. Romney to me was just one more election offering of Juan McLame, ready to be another squishy RINO and do anything he had to do in order to get elected.

But Paul Ryan is young. He has kids not much older than mine. He understands budgets (don’t make me dig up the link from the House Budget Committee’s proposal last year!). He understands taking risks to save this country, and he understands that if we don’t fix Medicare and Social Security NOW (like, right now if not yesterday), the promises that were made to mine and my parents’ generation (that’s his generation too!) won’t be there.

Sure, I could pull the lever for Gary Johnson, a.k.a. The Second Coming of Ross Perot. And some will say that if I had any principles at all, that since I’m in a “safe” state I could write in the candidate of my choice. But, see, I don’t care that Texas isn’t in play, and my principles at this moment are defined by my children, and that I am terrified they won’t grow up as I did, knowing that America was the greatest nation in the world. I want to see this election go to Romney-Ryan in a landslide. I want it to be 1980 and 1984 again (electorally speaking, of course), and I want to tuck my kids in bed at night, knowing that the American flag and our Constitution are strong enough to protect them.

That’s why I love the “Hey, girl, it’s Paul Ryan” memes. Is it harmless entertainment? To some. But there are people who see those photos, who have no idea who Paul Ryan is, who maybe (just maybe!), might go look and see what this is all about. There are people who see those cute, catchy photos of our potential vice president and think, “Hey, he is kind of just like us.” And there are people like myself and my girlfriends, who post them on each other’s Facebook walls during the day just to make each other smile. If nothing else, it’s free name recognition and advertising—and after the 2008 election, I won’t discount what a handsome face and name recognition can accomplish.

So, maybe Paul Ryan isn’t perfect. But he’s a heck of a lot better than the alternative, and no one wants to see a “Hey, girl, it’s Joe Biden” meme. Let’s focus on winning the 2012 election together and voting out Obama-Biden. Sniping about how Paul Ryan just isn’t conservative enough isn’t going to do anything but fuel the opposition. Not when Paul Ryan just might be conservative enough to save America—and that’s what this election is going to come down to.

And if that makes me a Ryan girl, so be it.

Ryan is picked for the VP
The Man with a Plan

Mitt Romney has tapped Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan to be his vice presidential running mate, ending weeks of speculation about who would join the former Massachusetts governor on the Republican ticket.

The Romney campaign announced the Ryan pick to supporters beginning at about 7 a.m. Saturday via an iPhone app.

Romney and Ryan will appear together later in the morning at a naval museum in Norfolk, Va.