A group of seniors will gather today to protest Congressman Vern Buchanan’s plan “to end Medicare” in Sarasota.
Last month, Buchanan voted for the Ryan Budget, which would turn Medicare into a voucher program. Critics say the plan would balance the budget on the backs of seniors by raising Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 67. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, an analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC) finds that “people earning more than $1 million a year would receive $265,000 apiece in new tax cuts, on average, on top of the $129,000 they would receive from the Ryan budget’s extension of President Bush’s tax cuts.”
According to a press release, Awake Sarasota will hold a nonpartisan “rally to Protect Medicare in protest against Congressman Buchanan’s vote for Congressman Ryan’s budget plan which would dilute adequate healthcare for future retirees.” Over 190,000 seniors living in Manatee and Sarasota counties benefit from Medicare, according to the release.
The rally will begin at noon in Sarasota’s Five Points Park.
Buchanan is currently the subject of multiple congressional ethics probes and, according to one of his former employees, may be under investigation by the IRS.
