Sign now: GOP plans to gut Medicare

Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell are coming for our health insurance.

Dear MoveOn member,

The GOP is gearing up to gut Medicare—but we can stop them if we act NOW.

In less than 24 hours, MoveOn and a coalition of progressive groups will join Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer at the Capitol to unveil a massive joint Medicare petition to GOP leaders.

This will be a major press event, and the size of our petition is like a thermometer showing the grassroots energy to defend Medicare. With all the groups combined, we're on the verge of reaching one million signatures, but it's up to MoveOn members to get us there.

Click here to sign the petition to save Medicare now—less than one day to go!

Do not end Medicare as we know it. Say no to any plan to phase out, voucherize, dismantle, or cut Medicare.

Fighting Republican efforts to gut Medicare could be the key to Democrats turning the tide against Trump and the GOP. This is an issue that unites progressives and most Americans, while dividing the right. Already, Republicans are running scared on this issue, trying to avoid answering questions from the press.¹

That's why it's so critical to demonstrate right away, this week, that the public is riled up and ready to fight. Hitting a million signatures with this petition will make sure it gets noticed in D.C. If we show Republicans the level of outrage they'll face if they follow through on their plan to go after Medicare, we can scare them off the case—and make them think twice about gutting Obamacare and Medicaid, too.

The first key moment is the petition delivery tomorrow, Wednesday, at 11 a.m. ET. Can you sign the petition and help make sure it's so big it can't be ignored?

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

It might seem crazy to say that Republicans want to shatter Medicare. Yes, it's shocking, but it's true. A plan to phase out Medicare and replace it with a system of vouchers for private insurance has been a centerpiece of Paul Ryan's Republican budgets for years.

And now Trump has chosen his nominee for the department that oversees Medicare and other health programs: Representative Tom Price, who recently told reporters that he planned to privatize Medicare “within the first six to eight months” of the Trump administration.²

Make no mistake. They're coming for Medicare. Between Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare, they want to endanger the health insurance that one in three Americans rely on today³—and that every American will benefit from in their lifetimes. If they succeed, it would be a disaster. But it's such a big overreach that fighting back against it could be the key to defeating them.

Sign now, share this with friends, and MoveOn will deliver this petition on Wednesday.

In 2005, President Bush was riding high—just as Trump is now. He had both houses of Congress, and he’d actually won the popular vote. But he made a big mistake: He tried to privatize Social Security. And MoveOn, Democrats in Congress, and the whole progressive movement fought back so hard that he not only lost that fight—he lost the momentum of his whole presidency.

Now it’s time to do the same thing. Trump has no mandate to end Medicare as we know it. He even said on the campaign trail that he’d protect it. But his allies in Congress and his own appointees have made clear that it’s in their crosshairs. So it’s time to unite, fight back, and show them that progressives still have what it takes to win.

Thanks for all you do.

—Ben W., Emma, Manny, Hannah, and the rest of the team

Sources: 

1. "GOP's Medicare plans run into wall in the Senate," Politico, December 2, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/7013?t=6&akid=174294.10220574.yC2Jim

2. "Trump pledged to protect Medicare. His choice for health secretary has other ideas," Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2016 
http://act.moveon.org/go/6983?t=8&akid=174294.10220574.yC2Jim

3. "America's Health Care Elixir," U.S. News & World Report, July 30, 2015
http://act.moveon.org/go/7014?t=10&akid=174294.10220574.yC2Jim

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to contain the damage of Donald Trump's presidency, to defeat hate with love, and to begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity and decency and the future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Click here to chip in $2.70, or whatever you can afford. 

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