Dangers For Both On Medicare, Part One

Mitt Romney's selection of Congressman Paul Ryan to be his running mate has made Medicare THE issue of the moment, and perhaps THE issue for the duration of the campaign. The way the debate is now structured, the Republicans cannot win this debate. Medicare is a hot-button issue, if there ever was one, and with so many voters either already on the government-run medical plan, or planning to be on it in the next few years, the concerns for the program are considerable. I can remember 40 or more years ago when rising medical costs were a concern, a concern that has not abated since those times. We have an aging population, and with those aging members of society comes more strain on the nation's Medicare program. Since Medicare's enactment into law, medical care has changed considerably, with fewer hospital stays and more medications prescribed. This change in care prompted the addition of a prescription drug benefit in a law passed in 2003. While the new law was a recognition of the changes in medical care, it was not paid for, and it should be noted, Congressman Ryan voted "Yes" on this legislation, and (then) Senator Joe Biden voted "No," in a final vote in the Senate on November 25, 2003.

In some fairness to both Ryan and Biden, it is always easy to say someone voted "for" or "against" a particular proposal, and that's what you get in political ads, but I like to know why legislators vote the way they do on any given issue, if possible, and there were philosophical differences between many Democrats and Republicans on the issue of Medicare prescription drug coverage, although as I noted above, the demographic shift to an older electorate made members of both parties want to do something about a drug benefit. "Generally" speaking, however, Democrats had been pushing for such coverage in some form, while Republicans had been either against it, or lukewarm at best, always seeking a way for private insurance to be involved. Many Democrats argued that by passing an unfunded liability onto Medicare, it would weaken the overall system, in spite of the good intention of covering senior prescriptions. Further, the added cost of the program was much in debate, with the Bush administration's cost estimates revised higher, AFTER the bill was passed and signed into law. Republicans pushed for incentives to get insurance companies to offer Medicare patients private insurance, and further they got a provision included that prevents the government from negotiating for lower prices from drug companies. Nine Republican senators voted against the bill, "generally" because of its cost, and eleven Democrats voted for it, although "generally" with misgivings about some shortcomings. The final bill barely passed in the House of Representatives on November 22, 2003 by a vote of 220 to 215. So while there was general consensus within both parties to offer prescription drug coverage to seniors, the philosophical split of the role of government and free markets was still there, although obscured by political self interest (that age demographic I keep mentioning).

With a subject like Medicare, it will take at least another article. So, more in Part Two, including the "dangers"  to both parties.

WORD HISTORY:
Yoke-This word is used for the (usually) wooden device fastened around a pair oxen for drawing a cart or wagon; and it is also used for the pair of oxen. It traces back to Indo European "yeug/yewg," which had the notion of "join together, unite." This gave its Old Germanic offspring the derived "yukan," meaning "yoke." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "geoc," with the same meaning. A verb form "geocian" was derived from the noun and meant "to put a yoke on animals, primarily oxen." The "ge(o)" letter combination in Old English was not pronounced with a hard "g," thus the sound was similar to our more modern "y," which is also what happened to the Old English form of "yellow," also spelled with a "geo" beginning. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "Joch" (German "j" is pronounced like English "y"), Low German Saxon has "Jück," Dutch has "juk," West Frisian has "jok," Danish has "åg," Icelandic has "ok," Norwegian has "åk," and Swedish has "ok." Notice the North Germanic languages (Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish) have lost the beginning "y" sound.