Medicare/Medicaid 'reform' scam exposed

by Les Bayless

This article was reprinted from the October 7, 1995 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

WASHINGTON - Two thousand seniors, many of them union retirees who carried signs reading, "Some cuts don't heal" and "Gingrich to seniors: Drop dead," gathered at the Capitol Building here Sept. 29 to protest Republican promises to "save" Medicare.

The National Council of Senior Citizens (NCSC) organized the rally to oppose GOP plans to cut $270 billion from Medicare and $183 billion from Medicaid in order to finance a $250 billion tax cut for the rich. More than 35 million senior citizens and survivors are covered by Medicare and an equal number of persons, including 17 million children, are covered by Medicaid.

The rally got underway when a 20 foot-tall Trojan horse, made of paper bags and painted gold, was wheeled onto the west steps by six "bankers" with $100 bills jammed in every pocket. Inside the horse were banners reading: "Seniors pay more for less," "Tax cuts for the rich," "No choice for doctors, close hospitals and nursing homes."

Dozens of disabled people, many in wheel chairs, sat near the podium as speakers warned that the proposed cuts threatened all who depend on Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income benefits for their survival.

Patrick Burns, spokesperson for the NCSC, told this reporter the most important thing people can do to stop the cuts is call Congress. "The phone number is simple: 202-224-3121," he said, adding, "That's the secret number -- the one your representative doesn't want you to have."

Dotty Jones, assistant director of the Retired and Older Workers Department of the United Auto Workers, said, "The impact these cuts are going to have on poor women and their children will be devastating. People have to understand that while women live longer than men, they also live poorer."

Jones, pointing to the fact that most families on public assistance are white, said the right wing has deliberately confused the issue in order to divide people. They try to create the false image, said Jones, that Medicaid is of concern only to Black people in poverty -- similar to the way they portray welfare.

Marie Clark and Jean Hayes, both wearing T-shirts labeling them "Arkansas yellow dog Democrats," who were going to meet President Clinton said they would urge him to veto cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.

Bob Lock, president of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees chapter from Maryland, said, "We came to protest these cuts in Medicare. We want to knock those darn Republicans out of there."

Would he urge the president to veto any cuts? "I don't agree with everything President Clinton does, but I would sure approve that."

Steve Protuilus, NCSC executive director reminded people that Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) voted against Medicare. "And now he tells us he wants to help us," Protuilus said. "We don't believe you, Bob Dole!" Protuilus said the GOP leadership in Congress was engaging in tricks, hoax, false gifts, disinformation and deception in order to take from the poor and give to the rich.

Protuilus said the Whitewater hearings took 28 days while only one day of hearings was scheduled for Medicare- Medicaid. The crowd chanted: Shame, Shame. Shame.

Justin Dart, former chairman of the President's Commission for the Disabled, a Republican said, "The vast majority of 49 million disabled Americans stand in solidarity with seniors and younger Americans who want justice! Yes, we can balance the budget, but not by cutting taxes for the rich and health care for the poor and older Americans."

Dr. Arthur Flemming, secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Eisenhower, said, "They want to bust up Medicare and Medicaid and substitute guaranteed benefits for a lottery!"

Flemming said no one knows what is in the Republican plan. "And yet in a few weeks they're going to jam it down our throats," he thundered. Flemming said a small group of people in the House and Senate are "trying to lead us down a tunnel with no light in it. It won't work!"

Norm Hill, president of A. Philip Randolph Institute said, "Freedom requires a material foundation. That material foundation is being reduced to rubble by the mean-spirited budget slashers in Congress."