BY SHARON MARTIN

The lies are flying thick and icky. So are the truths, like this comment I read online: “Change Medicare to a voucher system. Get seniors off America’s financial back.”

Finally, someone is telling the truth about what the Medicare voucher system will do.

A woman at a Ryan rally said that the Democrats were lying when they said that the Ryan plan would hurts seniors.

“Nothing will change for people 55 and older,” she said.

But what about the changes for those 54 and under? If you are 54, and you have been in the workforce since you graduated high school, you have been paying into Social Security and Medicare for 36 years. This is your insurance policy. This says that you will be able to retire someday, hopefully.

For some of us, this means that we can finally do the work we want to do without worrying about pre-existing conditions and unaffordable insurance. And somebody thinks it’s OK to take this away from us?

If you paid into an annuity for 36 years and the company decided to scrap the plan, the financial company could be charged with fraud. If Congress does it, it’s still fraud.

Medicare and Social Security are insurance policies. Congress could make adjustments to the premium on our policies. What if they changed it from 2.9% of wages [one-half of which is paid by employee and one half by employer] to 3.9%? How long would this extend the life of Medicare? Would it allow Congress to make good on promises it made to workers who have paid into the system for two or three decades?

Grover Norquist and his handlers have decreed that raising premiums on FICA or raising taxes is against the rules for legislators on one side of the aisle. That means Congress is working on problems of all sorts, including how to save Medicare and what to do about the deficit, with their hands tied behind their backs.

Are any brave enough to buck Norquist and do the right thing?

Let’s stop the lies about whom or what will save our nation and look at the facts: political arguments are about money, but the real arguments should be about the people the politicians serve.

The people need Medicare. Congress needs to quit playing games and fix what ails the program so it is there for everyone who has paid into it.

– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer