By: Ray Hanania

A lot of people voted for Mark Kirk for Senate thinking that he was better than his opponent Alexi Giannoulias. The idea was that they were making a choice for the better between two candidates. But that isn’t what the real choice was. The real choice was between strengthening the Democratic National agenda, which cares more for the average American and those in need, or surrendering to the Republican National agenda, which is becoming increasingly extremist with each election.

Here’s a perfect example. The Republicans now control the U.S. House and are fighting to take control of the Senate and even replace President Barack Obama. In the House, Republicans are pushing a plan to scrap Medicare. It’s the first step towards privatizing all services for seniors and making it your responsibility to pay for your own healthcare and retirement. Today it is Medicare and tomorrow it will be social security.

It’s a fascinating political dynamic. Seniors today are selfish and only care about themselves. So they vote for the Republican agenda for all the wrong reasons, not phased by the Republican plan to destroy Medicare. They have Medicare and most don’t think they will be around when the GOP Medicare Plan takes effect in 2022. It’s the young people and the late baby boomers who will suffer. Their Medicare is in jeopardy.

Under a plan introduced in extremist Republican Wisconsin — where they destroy unions and undermine healthcare — House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan has proposed eliminating Medicare and making future seniors pay for it out a government allotment they will receive instead. Here’s how it works. Instead of getting Medicare, which is already a weak system because it doesn’t cover everything and seniors still pay for most healthcare services, future seniors beginning in 2022 will get about $8,000 a year as a subsidy from the Government to pay for a portion of their healthcare. They will still pay the bulk of healthcare treatment, which is estimated at that time to be about $12,500 a year.

Don’t you get it? You won’t be able to buy healthcare for $8,000 a year. Your Social Security will barely be able to cover the portion you are already responsible for. In the end, the insurance industry will jack up the costs of healthcare — because they are not regulated and they are funding the re-election campaigns of many congressmen including some Democrats, too. And that means the $8,000 you’ll get will be worthless. It’s the same problem with Social Security. Most baby boomers with an average salary retire with between $1,400 and $2,200 in monthly Social Security payments. That sounds good today, but by the time you retire, inflation will make those numbers meaningless.

What’s the answer? Make government cover the cost of healthcare. Go back to the plan introduced by President Obama to provide healthcare to all of this nation’s citizens and dump the gold plated plans that the rich enjoy and make every get the same quality care. No one gets better, no one gets less. That sounds costly, but it won’t be half as costly as it will when you have to dig deep in to your own pockets to pay for excessive prescription costs, healthcare checkups and surgeries most of us will eventually need. Even if you didn’t like Giannoulias, the better option for our future would have been to vote for him if only to strengthen the Democratic National agenda to provide healthcare to everyone. And the best option is to insure the Democratic agenda returns to Washington DC, whether you like the Democratic candidates or not, otherwise we will all be in a lot of trouble.

Ray Hanania is an award winning columnist and media consultant. He can be reached at www.hanania.com.