Issue Position: Protecting Medicare

Issue Position

Many of this country's seniors rely on Medicare for their health care. We must assure the program does not go bankrupt so that we can keep this critical promise we have made to them. It is unacceptable that my opponent, Scott Murphy and his fellow Democrats raided the Medicare program with nearly $500 billion in cuts to finance their unpopular healthcare agenda that threatened availability of physicians and existing coverage options seniors count on. Medicare -- along with Social Security -- is an important program, which on its current path faces insolvency by 2017. Letting this program go bankrupt cannot be an option. Like Social Security, Medicare"s financing relies on a functioning private sector supporting workers' payroll taxes into the Program. The number of current workers paying into the system is not sufficient to support the growing number of beneficiaries, particularly with retirement of the baby boomer generation. The Board of Medicare Trustees, a non-partisan group, has repeatedly issued funding warnings to Congress about Medicare. Increasing health care costs paired with a greater demand for benefits has positioned Medicare to go bankrupt if spending is not slowed.

Waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare cheats the program out of millions of dollars annually. Solutions for Medicare should be bipartisan and should not cut benefits or raise taxes. . There is a dire need to lower health care costs while ensuring quality and accessibility to these critical healthcare services so that Medicare can be more reliable and user-friendly for beneficiaries. We need to promote innovation and competition to ensure Medicare benefits will continue to reach seniors and ensure they will continue to have access to life-saving prescription drugs.

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