Jenkins touts Medicare overhaul

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October 23, 2012 - 12:00 AM

Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins said she supports Medicare reform to include a system of subsidies to enable seniors to purchase a health insurance policy of their choice or participate in traditional Medicare.
Jenkins, 2nd District Republican, in 2011 voted for more Draconian measures to overhaul Medicare, including a state-run program that provided subsidies with which seniors could purchase their own health insurance plans.
Today, Jenkins backs a plan drawn up by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), which would give seniors, beginning in 2023, a stipend to go toward the purchase of private health insurance or traditional Medicare. The amount of the stipend would depend on Medicare rates in one’s area, as well as the senior’s personal income. Subsidies under the plan would be adjusted according to inflation, which to date, at least, lags behind the rate health care costs have increased.
Still to be determined under the Wyden-Ryan plan are additional subsidies lower-income Americans would receive.
Under the plan anyone currently 55 or older would not be affected.
The main difference of the Ryan-Wyden plan compared to today’s system is that a set amount given to seniors would, for many, dictate their health care. In the current system the government directly pays medical bills for the elderly. This is called a defined benefit plan.
Jenkins said the Wyden-Ryan plan “resembles what I receive as a member of Congress.”
Well, not hardly.
Current members of Congress participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which participates with several nationwide plans as well as about 200 regional health maintenance organization plans (HMOs).
Jenkins’ plan covers all hospital, surgical, physician, mental health, prescription drug, and emergency care. If admitted to any hospital, Jenkins also receives full reimbursement for either outpatient or inpatient care.
The plan takes all-comers, regardless of pre-existing conditions.
For $563 a year Jenkins also can take advantage of the services of an attending physician in the Capitol, who offers routine exams, can write prescriptions, and make certain diagnostic tests.
If the 2010 health care law is upheld, retiring members of Congress will not have access to these privileges beginning in 2014. Currently, the services have been offered into retirement for those who had at least five years of service in Congress.
Jenkins said she also favors raising the age of eligibility for Medicare benefits from 65 to 67, over an extended time period.
Jenkins’ vote for the overhaul of Medicare was included in the $3.5 trillion budget plan proposed by Rep. Ryan for fiscal year 2013.

ON OTHER matters, Jenkins said she was in favor of abortion for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, but would not vote to help fund them.
Jenkins has taken the Taxpayer Protection Pledge written by conservative activist Grover Norquist. Jenkins said she’ll remain true to the anti-tax oath “until the budget is balanced.”
“I don’t know one person who thinks if we give the government more money that it would be more responsive to constituents’ needs,” she said.
Jenkins said she was in favor of keeping taxes low for those who receive income from their investments. Currently, the tax rate on dividends and capital gains is 15 percent.
Fact check: roughly half of Americans own stock. Of those, more than half own less than $50,000 worth. The tax breaks referred to benefit only the small number of investors in the higher income ranges —  the 25 to 35 percent tax brackets. Dividend income amounts to less than 2 percent on the market value of stocks. Capital gains tax is only due on profits made on investments sold. The vast majority of those who realize a substantial benefit from the low capital gains tax are wealthy. Despite these facts, those low tax rates on investment income reduce federal income by tens of billions of dollars each year.
That tax saving, Jenkins said, is what goes “to start up new businesses and create more jobs.”
Fact check: there is no correlation between tax rates and job creation. The Clinton years had the higher tax rates on the wealthy. They were cut by President Bush and are set to be reimposed at the end of this year. Job creation during those eight Clinton years was one of the highest on record.

NOW IN HER second term, Jenkins, 49, said she’s in Washington, D.C. three nights a week, flying back to Kansas on Thursday nights.
“I take my job very seriously,” she said. “This is a very important time for the U.S. I feel we’re on the cusp of being able to take the country forward” if Mitt Romney wins the presidential race.
Running against Jenkins in the Nov. 6 race is Tobias Schlingensiepen, a minister from Topeka.

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