Baucus Blasts Ryan Plan: 'Not On My Watch'

Joan McCarter for Daily Kos         Tue Apr 05, 2011

Sen. Max Baucus (Mitch Dumke/REUTERS)

Via e-mail, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus blasted the Ryan "Path to Prosperity," ripping into the proposal to end Medicare as we know it today.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today blasted a House Republican budget proposal to cut more than $2 trillion in health care benefits and nursing home coverage for seniors. According to the Wall Street Journal, the proposal would "essentially end Medicare" as it exists today and instead funnel Medicare dollars to private insurance companies to cover only a portion of seniors’ coverage, cutting seniors’ benefits and increasing their costs. Under the budget proposed today by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), seniors would be forced to pay thousands of dollars more for their health care coverage. They would no longer enjoy guaranteed benefits or coverage, and insurance companies would be allowed to increase seniors' costs or drop their coverage if they get sick.

"Independent experts agree the House Plan would make deep cuts to the Medicare benefits seniors count on," said Baucus. "It would end Medicare as we know it and funnel Medicare dollars directly into private insurance companies' pockets. Under the House plan, seniors' coverage would be cut drastically, benefits would no longer be guaranteed and seniors' costs would skyrocket. We can't allow the House to balance the budget on the backs of seniors and we won't—not on my watch."

That's a pretty unequivocal statement that the Ryan plan is a dead letter in the Senate. It's the kind of simple messaging Josh Marshall has been asking for and which we need to be hearing from a lot more Dems. More of this, and less, much, much less, of this.

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