Posted on 10/23/2015 2:14:22 PM PDT by BlackFemaleArmyColonel
Republicans are consistently attacked whenever they mention reforms to entrenched entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. But presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson is going boldly where no Republican has gone before: declaring he would abolish Medicare completely. As Politico reports, “Carson … would eliminate the program that provides health care to 49 million senior citizens, as well as Medicaid, and replace it with a system of cradle-to-grave savings accounts which would be funded with $2,000 a year in government contributions.
When pressed on his position in May by CNBC’s John Harwood, Carson said Americans would support the elimination of Medicare when presented with the facts of his plan. “When people are able to see how much more freedom they will have, and how much more flexibility they will have, and how much more choice they would have, I think it’s going to be a no-brainer,” he said. Not surprisingly, Politico says “GOP strategists and conservative health care wonks scratching their heads. “This isn’t a borderline issue. The politics of this are horrific,” said Doug Holtz-Eakin, head of the American Action Forum and health care adviser to Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.”
Do we really care what an advisor on McCain’s failed 2008 campaign says? Maybe the fact that Ben Carson is actually a medical professional means he might have an understanding about how the industry works? And haven’t these establishment types noticed Ben Carson doesn’t really care about politics? Which is why perhaps he’s leading the GOP field in Iowa according to the latest Quinnipiac poll?
(Excerpt) Read more at allenbwest.com ...
For me it was the last debate, when he said he advised Bush after 9/11 not to attack Al Qaeda but to keep negotiating with the Taliban instead. That disqualifies him as a potential Commander in Chief in my book.
Dr. Carson should refrain from the use of the term "no-brainer"...too many implications.
Very true. I see it the same way too.
One Minute Cure will kill cancer and prevent it from appear!!!
Couldn’t happen fast enough. Carson needs to go.
He sounds so with it but now its just turning into promises of more pie in the sky.
His talents could best be used elsewhere. Jmo.
Extensive experience with government oversight should be mandatory, because of it's rigorous real-world feedback mechanisms that reward success and punish failure.
Academic experience, preferably visiting fellowships and OBVIOUSLY Ivy league credentials, as those foster understanding of and empathy for the ultimate beneficiaries/consumers of healthcare.
I'll take shop floor wisdom over management theory any day of the week.
I’ve paid dearly for SS. Yes I have a pension, yes I have an IRA, but Social Security is a substantial part of our budget.
We paid for it. We had no choice. That same amount of money could have been put into a 401K and the payout would have been much greater.
Social Security IS NOT WELFARE!!
My wife is putting off getting her SS so it can grow. If they dismantle it, she and a whole lot others will never reap a penny. Only the government politician robbers will have benefited by using the fund to buy votes.
It used to be Trump, Cruz & Carson in that order.
Now it’s down to just Trump and Cruz. A benefit here is Trump and Cruz do not put me to sleep when they talk.
Yep. I think Carson is trust trying to keep himself in the headlines.
I paid the maximum of one side of FICA for close to 40 years. Then, I took early retirement and paid both sides for years as an independent consultant. Somewhere, along the line I started the Medicare tax. I pay a monthly Medicare insurance premium with my company each month and a monthly Medicare payment deduction from my SS check. We have paid in more than we have cost Medicare since we went on it.
My wife started paying SS, when she was 14 and worked until she was 73, paying SS taxes and the monthly Medicare tax.
We have paid for decades and still pay unlike some third world pos, coming in this country illegally and drawing all types of benefits from our tax $'s without paying into the system. Versus someone with self inflicted problems like being a druggie/alcohic on Medical or Medicaid and never paying into the program.
Medicare is a VERY POPULAR program for those who are retired and will be retiring, and it’s popular for those taking care of aging parents, grandparents, in-laws, ect.
People have paid their hard earned money into Medicare.
Ben Carson is way off on this.
What did he say in Ferguson???
He will not get my vote.
It’s ok.:)
Carson “wants Farrakhan in charge of Public Policy in Chicago”????...
Really???
He would have arrested Brown and not shot him if he had been the police officer, knowing who he (Brown) was.
I take from that a bit of racism, but that is me. Of course, it means, he bought what the media tried to sell and did not find out the truth or, he was simply pandering.
sorry meant to put aide in there:
http://dailycaller.com/2015/10/17/top-carson-aide-wants-taxpayers-to-fund-farrakhan/
It will destroy him. It does not matter if he has a good plan to replace medicare. Our nation is too dumbed down for it to understand what his plan is.
If he is the nominee you know Hillary will have the ads all over TV in Florida and Arizona scaring the crap out of seniors that will have no health care if Ben Carson is President. And they will buy it. The normally reliable senior vote for Republicans will break heavily for Hillary.
HOORAY Carson
I agree with everything you stated.
obamacare didn’t kill me. Well, i dont know low, have to get new plan that covers endoscopy in new year.
every two years should be ok with what i have but he wanted to do every year.
i was disabled several years back, on SSDI but off it now and working again. Can’t lie, i took the 7 years of medicare they give you after you return to work. it’s moochy but my job’s plan is too much.
i add another 100 or 200 and get good insurance. but just note the endoscopy. and hospital stays are a fortune first five days!!
everyone TAKES in this country.
I have a feeling the people on this board are in general a little older than my 47 years.
STAY HEALTHY.
it is a different century where 80 is nothing.
WE NEED you guys more than ever.
NO RETIREMENT FOR YOU!! AT LEAST FROM POLITICS.
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