Medicare / Social

We all know that most Republicans opposed the creation of Medicare, and to this day are philosophically opposed to the program. The recently passed Prescription Drug Plan can handily be described as a poison pill method of achieving the ultimate goal of President Bush and the Republicans - to privatize Medicare and end the guarantee of certain benefits under the program. This plan will cause 2-3 million seniors who have existing prescription drug coverage through their employers to be dropped from their plans, many of which are more generous than that proposed by the plan. It is likely that, in Washington state alone, up to 47,000 retirees are likely to lose their employer-sponsored coverage. Read more about the drug bill's problems :

Families USA: "Medicare Drug Law Materials for Advocates and Consumers"
"Bad to the Bone: The Bush Medicare Reform Scandals"
MoveOn.org: "What Bush Says vs. The Facts About His Medicare Drug Plan"

In the area of Social Security - the most successful poverty reduction program in American history, keeping nearly 40 percent of older Americans above the poverty line - is now facing a much more dreary outlook because of President Bush's economic policies. Like Medicare, President Bush wants to privatize Social Security with private savings accounts, yet the diversion of such revenue would combine with the retirement of the baby boomer generation and Bush's deficits to create the perfect storm -- complete insolvency of Social Security.

Campaign for America's Future: "Social Security"

With his reckless fiscal policies and his attack on working families, George W. Bush is still undermining Medicare and Social Security, replacing it with economic insecurity and hardship ("Caught on Film: The Bush Credibility Gap"). This is only the beginning. Social Security and Medicare cannot survive another four years of George W. Bush.