Gosh, I wonder if the Tea Party had anything to do with these?

Both Parties Show Willingness To Reform Entitlement Programs.


The New York Times reports in a front-page story, "In a significant shift driven by bipartisan concern about the looming long-term debt, Republicans and Democrats are no longer fighting over whether to tackle the popular entitlement programs -- Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security -- but over how to do it." Members of both parties "expressed a willingness to wring savings from the long-untouchable programs during the first meeting of the special committee that is charged with recommending $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions over the decade. Then President Obama, in his address to a joint session of Congress on spurring job creation, reiterated his call for a plan reducing long-term debt with both changes in entitlement programs and taxes from the wealthy."


Hospital Group Urging Congress To Raise Medicare Eligibility Age.

Politico  reports, "The American Hospital Association has a strategy for heading off any more Medicare payment cuts: Tell Congress to get the money from Medicare beneficiaries instead." The AHA "is urging its nearly 5,000 members to lobby Congress to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, in addition to other money-saving alternatives, according to spokeswoman Marie Watteau."