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 seniors and the election1) they strongly support obamacare 2) they are afraid of the romney/ryan plan for medicare 3) they do not like the rightward drift of the republican party. More and More, in Obama’s Corner By MICHAEL WINERIP Mitt Romney has just come off a couple of rough news weeks in his quest for the presidency, but if Clyde Tennyson, 62, of Hampton, Va., is as typical of the baby boom generation as polling data seem to suggest, there is more bad news to come. Mr. Tennyson, a designer at Hampton’s shipyard, voted for Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. In that election, the boomers split their vote down the middle, giving Mr. McCain and Barack Obama 49 percent each. This time, Mr. Tennyson says he’s voting for President Obama, a shift that a sizable number of his fellow boomers are making, according to recent polling data. He’s angry about the Republicans’ talk of changing Medicare from government sponsored to a private voucher program. Though Mr. Romney swears it’s not so, Mr. Tennyson also fears that the Republicans will alter Social Security. “I’m going to need Medicare and so are my kids,” said Mr. Tennyson, who has three children ages 29 to 39. “I’ve been paying money into Social Security the last 40 years, and it’s all I’m going to have to retire on — I don’t want to hear a word about privatization. Not Medicare, not Social Security.” Mr. Tennyson is one of the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, known as the baby boom generation. In the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll, likely voters in roughly that age group favored Mr. Obama by 9 percentage points. In a Pew Research Center poll of likely voters, Mr. Obama is ahead, 50 to 44 percent, within that age group. “This is a significant change, and that generation’s vote counts for a lot,” said Scott Keeter, director of survey research for Pew. The boomers, who range in age from 48 to 66, account for 37 percent of all voters, according to Pew. Generation X — roughly 31 to 46 — makes up 26 percent. The youngest voters, ages 18 to 30, and the oldest, over 65, make up 17 percent each. The apparent shift could be offset by a softer level of support for Mr. Obama among the youngest voters, in the 18-to-29 age group, of whom 66 percent went for him in 2008, and potentially lower turnout. What is moving the baby boom voters? It may be Medicare. On Friday, at the AARP convention in New Orleans, the Republican vice presidential candidate Paul D. Ryan was widely booed when he mentioned repealing “Obamacare” and privatizing Medicare. The Great Recession had a major impact just as the older boomers were approaching retirement. The typical household income for those 55 to 64 has dropped nearly 10 percent since the recession, to $55,748 from $61,716, the biggest decrease of any age group. Lark McDonald, 51, who owns a small business in the Denver area, says he voted for Mr. McCain last time, and usually votes a straight Republican ticket, but is leaning toward Mr. Obama. He worries that the Republicans are moving too far right, he said, but he is also concerned they will dismantle the Obama health care program and make major changes in Medicare. “I take care of my father’s medical issues,” he said. “He relies on Medicare, and if we go to a voucher system, it will make everything harder to do.” According to the Pew poll, 69 percent of boomers say Medicare is “very important” to their vote, which is surpassed only by those 65 and older. Also, 54 percent of likely voters in that age group, according to the Times/CBS News poll, believe that Mr. Obama is doing a better job of handling Medicare, compared with 42 percent for Mr. Romney. And 30 percent “strongly approve” of the president’s health care program, the most of any age group. In the last election, Howard Litvack, 53, a finance manager of a car dealership in Franklin, Tenn., backed Ralph Nader, as a protest vote. This time, he says, he’s voting for Mr. Obama. “It’s more important this time to have my vote count,” he said. “There’s more at stake.” He is particularly concerned about the Republicans’ proposal for privatizing Medicare, which would apply to people under 55, including him. “It absolutely plays into this,” Mr. Litvack said. “I’m interested in how this will affect me, and believe me, it will affect me negatively.” |
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On the flip side, Medicare isn't as efficient as it needs to be and the buying power of such a huge group ought to produce more savings for the government. I don't see many in medical fields declining Medicare business now; isn't there room for significant improvements? |
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OnamaCare is the worst thing for boomers... |
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mri oh brother. i am not sure why i am bothering, but... do you think insurance companies care about your grandma? |
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victoid clone |
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seniors and erectile dysfunction |
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ace ... |
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Mr Grandmother Is Long Dead... |
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Zorroloco |
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zorroloco 01-Oct-12, 11:59 |
Deleted by zorroloco on 01-Oct-12, 16:51.
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dmaestro 01-Oct-12, 16:39 |
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mri |
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anomalocaris 01-Oct-12, 18:04 |
Well |
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Obama adviser admits: 'We need death panels' Steven Rattner advocated that such rationing should target elderly patients, while stating, “We need death panels.” Rattner serves on the board the New America Foundation, or NAF, a George Soros-funded think tank that was instrumental in supporting Obamacare in 2010. Soros’ son, financier Jonathan Soros, is also a member of the foundation’s board. Rattner was the so-called “car czar,” the lead auto adviser to the Treasury Department under Obama. Last month, Rattner penned an opinion piece in the New York Times titled “Beyond Obamacare” in which he proclaimed “We need death panels” and argued rationing must be instructed to sustain Obama’s health-care plan. His comments have been virtually ignored by traditional media as the president campaign’s for a second term. “We need death panels,” began Rattner. “Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health-care resources more prudently – rationing, by its proper name – the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget.” Continued Rattner: “But in the pantheon of toxic issues – the famous ‘third rail’ of American politics – none stands taller than overtly acknowledging that elderly Americans are not entitled to every conceivable medical procedure or pharmaceutical.” Rattner lamented how Obama’s Affordable Care Act “regrettably includes severe restrictions on any reduction in Medicare services or increase in fees to beneficiaries.” Rattner said the numbers don’t add up unless Obamacare utilizes rationing. “If his Independent Payment Advisory Board comes up with savings, Congress must accept either them or vote for an equivalent package,” stated Rattner. “The problem is, the advisory board can’t propose reducing benefits (a k a rationing) or raising fees (another form of rationing), without which the spending target looms impossibly large.” Rattner singled out elderly patients for benefit cuts. He wrote: “No one wants to lose an aging parent. And with price out of the equation, it’s natural for patients and their families to try every treatment, regardless of expense or efficacy. But that imposes an enormous societal cost that few other nations have been willing to bear. Many countries whose health care systems are regularly extolled – including Canada, Australia and New Zealand – have systems for rationing care.” He concluded, “At the least, the Independent Payment Advisory Board should be allowed to offer changes in services and costs.” “We may shrink from such stomach-wrenching choices, but they are inescapable.” Rattner serves on the NAF’s 22-person board of directors alongside Jonathan Soros, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria and Google’s Eric Schmidt. Soros’ Open Society Foundation is a primary donor to the NAF. Other major donors include the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google Inc. and the Rockefeller Foundation. Another donor is Free Press, a group that advocates for more government control of the airwaves and Internet. Free Press is also funded by Soros. Free Press was founded by Robert W. McChesney, an avowed Marxist who has recommended capitalism be dismantled “brick by brick.” The NAF, meanwhile, bills itself as bipartisan and “the radical center.” NAF fellow Michael Lind wrote, “Our goal [is] not to repeal the New Deal [of Franklin Roosevelt] but to adapt it to the circumstances of the 21st century.” Discover The Networks notes how the NAF approved of Obamacare because it would “offer a new image” of how Americans view dying; and it would help “patients and their families to recognize” that, “[S]ometimes ‘doing everything’ results in more burden than benefit. High-tech medicine can prolong life, but for some patients, it merely draws out the process of dying.” With research by Brenda J. Elliott. www.wnd.com |
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What we have here... |
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dmaestro 02-Oct-12, 13:52 |
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Did You Know... |
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mri 'single women do this.' 'black people are like that' and you opine that others do not use their brains? that is one of the saddest and most ironic statements i have ever heard. did you know that you sound like a racist idiot? |
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Last Night Showed... |
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mri |
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D E A T H - P A N E L S ---- for the Old Ones IGNORE the bomb that softy 3 days ago lobbed into the room? |
