Publius
Big Government
11/7/2009
“Back in 1989, the Democrat House, led by Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski, passed the ‘Catastrophic Health Care Act.’ The Act promised to expand coverage and benefits, financed by a surcharge on senior’s existing Medicare benefits. Passage of the Act sparked on outcry from seniors. CBSNews goes back into the archives to find footage of one of the protests.
“The report forgets to mention that Congress quickly repealed the Catastrophic Act in response to the voter backlash. Something current Members of Congress might want to keep in mind.
“The problem for today’s Democrats is that the PelosiCare bill they are being pressured to support has a lot more to anger seniors than just a modest surcharge. Between the cuts to Medicare and numerous higher taxes, more people will lose under this bill than gain. That’s very dangerous politics. Again, if a small surcharge, in exchange for more benefits, was enough to spark protests that rattled on Old Bull like Rostenkowski, imagine the backlash when seniors realize they will lose lots of benefits in exchange for…nothing. Rostenkowski was genuinely surprised by the protests. After Tuesday’s elections results, however, Democrats can’t say they weren’t warned….”
The article continues here. It includes a list of the cuts to Medicare contained within PelosiCare.
Links updated.
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