July 25, 2011 11:20 PM UTC

Coffman: We Must Destroy Medicare In Order To Save It

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• by: Colorado Pols

A fascinating guest opinion piece from GOP Rep. Mike Coffman in stout defense of the 2012 GOP budget proposal authored by Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan–as published in the Lone Tree Voice this weekend, excerpts presented without additional comment. Thoughts?

The Medicare Board of Trustees conservatively places 2024 as the date when the Medicare trust fund will run out of money.  Simply put, Medicare is going bankrupt, and the longer Congress and the president kick the proverbial can down the road, the more difficult it will be to save and preserve the program for future generations of deserving seniors…

The Medicare system must be reformed.  The only comprehensive reform introduced to date in Congress is the idea put forward by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Budget Committee.  The Medicare reform plan developed by Ryan is now being promoted by many House Republicans.  No doubt, there is a lot of confusion among ordinary citizens all across the country over what this proposal for Medicare reform, which I support, actually does.

The House Republican Medicare reform plan leaves seniors who are either currently on Medicare or those who are age 55 and older alone.  In other words, they will maintain their eligibility and benefits are unchanged.  However, for those under 55, the necessary changes to preserve Medicare will need to be made.  What is important for those who are younger than 55 is that this plan assures them there will be a Medicare program to count on, and gives them adequate time to adjust their retirement planning to reflect the terms of the new program. [Pols emphasis]

…No doubt, supporting any reforms to save and preserve Medicare will always be politically risky because there inevitably will be those who have no plan of their own but who will take every opportunity to attack anyone who has the courage to step forward in support of one.

The Medicare program is slipping into insolvency and it is unsustainable in its current form.  The stakes are far too high for us to continue to ignore this challenge.  Medicare, “as we know it,” must be changed in order to save and preserve it for future generations.