When Senator Marco Rubio (R) of Florida said in the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address that “the biggest obstacles to balancing the budget are programs where spending is already locked in,” the first example he then turned toward is Medicare.
Rubio got personal early in his speech by explaining that Medicare provided his father with healthcare coverage during a lung cancer battle and helped him “ultimately die with dignity” at the age of 83.
Today, the program provides coverage for his mother — which is why he insisted he would not change the program in ways that would negatively impact that care for his mother or other seniors.
“But anyone who is in favor of leaving Medicare exactly the way it is right now,” Rubio continued, “is in favor of bankrupting it.”
[SOTU: Obama open to ‘additional health reform from both parties’]
Rather than helping middle class Americans afford health insurance, Rubio said, “some people are losing insurance they were happy with.”
What’s more, he said, President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirement that businesses with more than 50 employees provide health insurance has prevented small companies from hiring and, in other cases, trigger layoffs or restructuring from full-time to part-time employees to remain below that threshold.
All this when Republicans have proposed what Rubio called “a detailed and credible plan that helps save Medicare,” and does so without harm to senior citizens the program currently serves.
“Instead of playing politics with Medicare, when is the President going to offer his plan to save it?” Rubio asked rhetorically. “Tonight would have been a good time for him to do it.”
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