Medicare: Protect it, Improve it, and Expand it to All!
Hands Off Social Security and Medicare. Make Wall Street Pay.
Medicare: Protect it, Improve it, and Expand it to All!
On Saturday, June 26 in 20 cities, America Speaks, funded by billionaire Pete Peterson’s Foundation, will be holding one day “discussions” to preach about the dangers of “the deficit”. These events are nothing more than efforts to soften up the public to accept Medicare and Social Security cuts when the deficit commission reports before December 1.
These articles have more detailed information:
Facts on Medicare, Social Security, and the Deficit Commission
AmericaSpeaks–What is not on the program
Whacking the Old Folks
Has Obama created a Social Security ‘death panel’?
Don’t Confuse Pete Peterson’s Desire to Slash Medicare with the Goals of HealthCare Reform –Part 1
Wall Street Propaganda: Blame Social Security
We urge you to attend and speak up boldly at these America Speaks events which are open to the public at no charge. Check here to see if there is one in your city and to sign up.
There will be protests outside many of the June 26 meetings to demand “Hands off Social Security and Medicare—Make Wall Street Pay.” Below is the press release for the protest rally that will be held in Detroit. If there is one near you, join it!
__________________________________________________________________
NEWS: Immediate Release
Hands Off Medicare and Social Security
Detroit, MI – Activists in support of Medicare for All, universal health care interested in preserving Medicare and Social Security are protesting the AmericaSpeaks “town meeting” this Saturday at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI at 11:00 am.
Kay Tillow, head of the Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare (KSPH), said that “AmericaSpeaks events being held across the nation on June 26 are funded by right-wing foundations wanting to curtail federal retirement programs.”
“It appears that AmericaSpeaks wants to shape the national discussion so it can provide feedback to the President’s newly appointed Fiscal Commission, an 18-member group charged with giving Congress a report next December on how to reduce the national deficit,” Tillow said. “But the commission is stacked heavily in favor of slashing benefits in both Medicare and Social Security. On top of that, the commission’s staff is being provided by Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson’s Foundation, which is also funding the AmericaSpeaks event. For decades Peterson has been trying to privatize or get rid of Social Security.”
Retirees for Single Payer member, Bob Sisler, said “a public rally is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Saturday outside McGregor Conference Center, Wayne State University, 495 W Ferry Mall. Anyone from the public who wants to preserve Social Security and protect Medicare is invited.”
Healthcare NOW!’s National Organizer, Katie Robbins, points out that Social Security has not contributed one dime to the nation’s deficit. In fact, it has accumulated a massive surplus of $2.5 trillion from many decades of workers paying into the system from every paycheck.”
“As for Medicare’s financial troubles, they are quite fixable without any reduction of benefits. For 40 years Medicare’s critics have warned of impending doom for the program but it always gets repaired. Here’s our suggested fix: Eliminate the massive waste and expense caused by the private for profit insurance companies. Put the savings into Medicare–protect it, improve it, and expand it to all.”
Protest rally: 11:00am – Noon, Saturday, June 26, 2010
Place: McGregor Conference Center, Wayne State University, 495 W Ferry Mall Detroit, MI 48202
Contact: healthcarenow08@gmail.com
I will be going to the Rally AND the Speak Out conference at Wayne State U in Detroit. I hope to straighten out these folks with the facts. Social Security is fully funded & will be for a long time and it does not add in any way to the deficit. Caps on income for soc. sec should be raised to the first $500,000. so the rich pay their fall share and fund the trust well into our great grandchildren’s future.
Don’t worry, I will stand my ground no matter what crap is thrown at me.
I am one of the old people you are trying to scare, I think what you are attempting is despicable and totally dishonest. I am more interested in keeping pukes like you from bankrupting this nation than I am worried about my own issues. If it were up to me we would do across the board cuts through the entire budget until we straighten out this mess you socialists have created.
Bet you don’t have the stones to publish this as written.
Mike Malone
Mike Malone, reading the Wall Street slogans you keep repeating shows you just haven’t done your homework. I only want the best system at the best price and Single Payer is it. Single Payer systems around the world spend 10% of their GDP on health care, cover everyone, and have zero bankruptcies due to health care. We in the U.S. spend 20% of our GDP ($3 trillion) on health care, leave 50 million uninsured, and have 1 million bankruptcies every year due to health care bills. 80% of those bankruptcies are people WITH health insurance. Given that Single Payer is GUARANTEED to save $1.5T per year (unless you think Americans aren’t bright enough to copy the most successful system in the world), your ideas about across the board cuts doesn’t even address the issue. At $1.5T in waste we are not talking about heath care costs anymore, are we? No. The additional $1.5T excess waste is the cost of massive and entrenched political corruption. Corruption courtesy of Wall Street, the insurance companies, and your elected officials. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) only prolongs this corruption. It’s the current corrupt system that’s unsustainable. Finally, OECD statistics show historically how ONLY Single Payer systems can control costs best into the future. Now isn’t that why we are talking about health care costs in the first place? Single Payer does it all. I don’t know what socialism means when you say it, but just like Social Security Single Payer will be a Constitutionally approved system; a direct tax for a direct benefit. That’s more than enough to convince me.