With the Ryan Budget, the Wealthy Win While Most Michiganders Lose
If you retire in 2022 or after, Ryan and Romney want to hand you a voucher instead of Medicare coverage. Studies show most seniors then paying 1,000—6,000 more every year of their retirement after that.
What would U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget mean for Michigan families? Using nonpartisan data, the bottom line is stark. If the Ryan budget passes, a tiny proportion of Michiganders would benefit, but millions would lose.
The biggest winners in Michigan would be households making more than $1 million a year. An analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center finds millionaires would pay an average of $265,000 less in taxes.
To make room for new tax cuts for the very rich, the Ryan budget eliminates middle-class tax breaks and cuts social programs. With the tax cut the plan gives to a single Michigan millionaire, communities could pay the salaries of five firefighters earning the state’s median household income of $48,000 a year.
Michigan senior citizens would pay more for less security. Medicare guarantees health care for about 1.5 million Michigan senior citizens. But the Ryan budget would end Medicare as we know it.
The plan would require Michigan seniors retiring 10 years from now to use a voucher to help pay for private insurance or accept less Medicare aid. The value of the vouchers would decline over time, falling behind rising health insurance prices. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that senior citizens, or their families, would have to find an additional $6,000 each year to buy the same coverage seniors have now.