Congress shouldn't accept taxpayer-funded health insurance

In April, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to cut Medicare and Medicaid. And now even Democrats on the so-called Super Committee are talking about cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Essentially Congress is telling senior citizens and the poor that tax cuts for billionaires and millionaires are more important that providing a health care safety net for our most vulnerable. But did you know that members of Congress get great taxpayer funded healthcare? In fact, they get one of the best health care plans in the world.

It strikes me as the height of hypocrisy to be accepting government-provided, taxpayer-subsidized health insurance while denying seniors, the disabled and the poor the basic coverage that Medicare and Medicaid provide.

 That’s why a petition is being circulated, demanding that members of Congress who voted to cut Medicare and Medicaid stop accepting taxpayer-subsidized health insurance for themselves.  If they believe our most vulnerable citizens should buy insurance on the corporate, for-profit market, shouldn’t they do the same?

Put pen to paper or your fingers to your keyboard and tell Congress: If you don’t believe in publicly-funded health coverage, don’t accept it.

Larry King

11/21/2011