Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor yesterday told the Wall Street Journal that he is ready and willing to “slash entitlements like Medicare," because, in his opinion, Americans have to “come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that frankly are not going to be kept for many":

What we need to be able to do is to demonstrate that that is the better way for the people of this country. Get the fiscal house in order, come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that, frankly, are not going to be kept for many. [...] The math doesn’t lie.

Watch the key excerpt of Cantor’s WSJ interview:

Congressional Republicans, led by Cantor, aren't just talking about this. They're taking action, pushing the Ryan budget that would end Medicare as we know it by voucherizing the program. It’s a change that would double seniors’ out-of-pocket health care costs, both for current and future recipients.

Those votes and these comments both show that the Republican willingness to actively renege on decades-old promises our country has made to future generations is becoming mainstream for their party.

Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor yesterday told the Wall Street Journal that he is ready and willing to “slash entitlements like Medicare," because, in his opinion, Americans have to “come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that frankly are not going to be kept for many":

What we need to be able to do is to demonstrate that that is the better way for the people of this country. Get the fiscal house in order, come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that, frankly, are not going to be kept for many. [...] The math doesn’t lie.

Watch the key excerpt of Cantor’s WSJ interview:

Congressional Republicans, led by Cantor, aren't just talking about this. They're taking action, pushing the Ryan budget that would end Medicare as we know it by voucherizing the program. It’s a change that would double seniors’ out-of-pocket health care costs, both for current and future recipients.

Those votes and these comments both show that the Republican willingness to actively renege on decades-old promises our country has made to future generations is becoming mainstream for their party.

Last week, Tim Pawlenty delivered a speech to a group of health insurance executives. The kicker: He was paid to do it. After endorsing the Ryan Republican plan to voucherize Medicare and give insurance companies a windfall payday, Tim Pawlenty cashed their check.

Tim Pawlenty may think he’s telling the “hard truth,” but evidently, it comes with a price.

Today in San Francisco, Tim Pawlenty is speaking to a group of health insurance executives, and he’s getting paid to do it.

The former Minnesota governor turned GOP presidential candidate recently endorsed the Ryan Republican plan that would voucherize Medicare – it’s a plan that would nearly double seniors’ out of pocket costs and give health insurance companies a serious payday.

And now he's literally getting paid by the insurance companies.

Perhaps being bought and paid for by the health insurance executives is something Tim Pawlenty is fine being known for, but it won’t help future seniors who will be forced to pay more for less in terms of health care if Republicans get their way and end Medicare. Perhaps pocketing thousands of dollars in cash to give a speech outlining his plan to repeal health reform is a plus for Tim Pawlenty, but it won’t help seniors afford their prescription drugs or preventive care, it won’t help young people access health insurance and it won’t help people being denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition. 

Tim Pawlenty has been bragging about giving Americans some hard truths lately. Well, here’s a hard truth for Tim Pawlenty: raking in thousands of dollars for yourself while siding with insurance company profits over affordable healthcare for the rest of us will not go unnoticed. We’ll make sure of that.

And you can help us spread this news – share this with your networks to make sure everyone knows the truth about Tim Pawlenty’s relationship with the insurance industry.

In yesterday’s New York Times,columnist Paul Krugman described the letter written to Comcast by the GOP urging television stations to stop running a TV ad opposing the Republican plan to “end Medicare.” The GOP arguesthat their plan would create a “new, sustainable version of Medicare,” and call the charges the ad makes against them a lie.

The problem with the GOP’s argument, as Krugman points out, is that the Republican plan does eliminate Medicare as we know it.

Directly to that point, Krugman quotes blogger Duncan Black, who says, “[W]hen we replace the Marines with a pizza, we’ll call the pizza the Marines.” Just because Republicans call it Medicare, doesn’t make it Medicare.

As Krugman elaborates, the Republican plan, dubbed “Vouchercare,” would look nothing like the current Medicare program:

Medicare is a government-run insurance system that directly pays health-care providers. Vouchercare would cut checks to insurance companies instead. Specifically, the program would pay a fixed amount toward private health insurance — higher for the poor, lower for the rich, but not varying at all with the actual level of premiums. If you couldn’t afford a policy adequate for your needs, even with the voucher, that would be your problem.

And most seniors wouldn’t be able to afford adequate coverage. A Congressional Budget Office analysis found that to get coverage equivalent to what they have now, older Americans would have to pay vastly more out of pocket under the Paul Ryan plan than they would if Medicare as we know it was preserved. Based on the budget office estimates, the typical senior would end up paying around $6,000 more out of pocket in the plan’s first year of operation.

There’s nothing unfair or misleading about informing the public that the Republican plan would “voucherize” Medicare – that’s what it does.

Republicans are unhappy because people across the country have rejected that plan, a fact made clear most recently by the Democratic victory in New York’s 26th Congressional District.

Click here to read Paul Krugman’s full op-ed in yesterday’s Times.

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This new online tool shows the real cost to seniors under the Republican plan – a plan that will end the Medicare benefits seniors rely on. In nearly every state, seniors would pay almost twice the out-of-pocket expenses they currently pay.

Take a minute to see the average cost to seniors in your state and how it compares to the national average. Then, please share this tool with friends, family, and folks in your community.