Presidential Commitment to Assail Society:

Medicare is America’s largest health insurance program and it is responsible for 2 percent of gross domestic production. For an increasing number of elderly and disabled persons, Medicare is the closest thing the US has to universal health insurance.

Amy Finkelstein [Department of Economics, MIT] contends that that the impact of Medicare on hospital spending is five times greater than previous estimates. The Medicare program has shaped the practice of American medicine. After its introduction in 1965, Medicare was linked to once new medical technologies.

Writing for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Matt Nesvisky says that Finkelstein’s work suggests ‘the insurance value of Medicare alone is enough to cover between 45 percent and 75 percent’ of its costs.’ In addition to the reduction of large, out of pocket expenses for the elderly, Medicare also potentially provides better health care and risk reduction.

President Obama publically identified what he says is the greatest contributor to the deficit. He has pledged to ‘reform that program’ and spoke of ‘further unnecessary spending in government that we can eliminate.’

You might assume that the program President Obama addressed is the US military. But you’d be wrong. Neither our worldwide military presence nor discretionary wars is the culprit. That ignominy falls to Medicare. We should not underestimate the impact of these ‘reforms’ on the Medicare program. The Office of the Actuary is projecting that in less than 10 years, some 15% of hospitals will forced out of business by these cuts.

Medicare and Social Security extend lives. President Obama apparently sees this as a problem. He contends that ‘obligations to the elderly are already squeezing programs for the young and the needy.’ The President appears to believe that the materially unproductive elderly have had their day and ought to bow out quietly to make room for youthful workers that the ownership class needs to exploit in order to maintain the indolent lifestyle to which they are long accustomed. Accordingly, President Obama sees the need of ‘deep structural reforms’ for Medicare. This prepares the public to expect a heavy assault on public health provisions. The President might as well have said that the disabled and elderly are unnecessary and can be eliminated. It seems clear that owing to current bipartisan efforts to preserve the privilege and power of the bourgeois, they will be eliminated.

Social conditions will improve only as solutions to the problems inherent in Capitalism are found and implemented. This requires the adoption of a consistently socialist agenda. In every nation, the adoption of socialism is the first priority of the working class.