WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Yesterday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, Republican Congressman from Wisconsin, introduced a budget for FY2012 that rejects the priorities and values of Americans through drastic spending cuts to critical programs. In response, Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge made this statement:

“This plan is an all out assault on programs vital to Americans.  It fails to cut tax subsidies for oil companies but sacrifices funding for Medicare and Medicaid.  It provides tax breaks for millionaires while cutting Pell grants for college students.  Protecting investments that create jobs, grow the economy, and strengthen competitiveness should be our top priority.  We can all agree that spending cuts are in order, but we must not sacrifice programs that provide essential services to elderly and disabled citizens.

"This budget would essentially end Medicare as we know it.  It would eliminate the current program that pays healthcare bills for 48 million Americans, including about 80,000 seniors in my district, and replace it with an exchange system.  Healthcare costs will continue to go up as the government pays less each year, making seniors on fixed incomes shoulder significantly more of the cost. That cost would grow to include profits and marketing costs for insurance companies as they are forced to seek health care coverage in the private insurance market.  In addition, Medicaid would be converted to block grants, shifting costs and risk to states, and would not account for actual spending."

CBO's initial analysis of the plan explained that over time future retirees would pay more because the Medicare package would be more expensive to deliver through private insurers.  By 2030, the government payment would cover only one-third of the typical retiree's total health care costs.

Congresswoman Fudge added there will be no savings if this budget is implemented; costs would simply shift from government programs to the pockets of Americans.  “These are the wrong cuts to ensure our country's prosperity, it’s a giveaway to the already wealthy and a bad deal for  older Americans."

Additional Information:

• CBO Analysis
• Seventeen Governors from across the country opposed Ryan’s plan, specifically dealing with Medicaid. The proposed legislation would slash support for seniors in nursing homes and health care for children and Americans with disabilities. “We strongly oppose a congressionally-mandated block grant of federal Medicaid spending, which would shift costs and risk to states. Such a cost shift would severely undercut our ability to provide health care to our residents and adequately pay providers… In the face of state and federal budget pressures and rising health care costs, we need federal policy that creates cost savings, not cost shifting. States are already innovating within Medicaid, and the current financing system provides ample room to manage our Medicaid programs to provide increasingly efficient quality care."

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