Page 44 - Means Testing News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> yeah, exactly. and certainly medicare and medicaid are the two great drivers of the entitlements. of course, medicaid always seems easier to cut because that's not a middle-class entitlement. that helps the poor. >> right. >> are you concerned that both sides may be more willing to cut medicaid and leave a middle-class entitlement like medicare on the table? >> no. i think wooe ge've got to do medicare. it's going to pull this economy down. we've got to deal with it. and i think most rational people, including democrats, realize that we've got to make some cuts or deal with medicare. but, y...

Like in the affordable care act which added eight years of solvency to medicare. we have a chance to do that well. >> whether you say entitlement reform, are you talking about raising the age that one would qualify for medicare? are you talking about changing the means testing for social security as well? >> first of all, social security is a separate issue unrelated to the fiscal cliff discussions and is not part of this discussion in my opinion. when it comes to the savings that we're able to continue to glean out of medicare, we can do that through the $360 billion that is in president obam...

Aggressive on entitlement reform? and i'm talking specifically about medicare here. >> you know, he does face some similar challenges. they're not exactly the same. there's not an absolute line drawn by most democrats, but i think most democrats would be willing to talk about some sort of means testing. but that's a difficult conversation to have in a couple of weeks, i think, for the democratic base. he could get out ahead. he does have a lot of running room right now. i guess i kind of join congressman cleaver in being a bit skeptical that they get a big deal by the end of the year. i see mo...

Reform. we've heard some details about what they might be considering, you know, means testing, changing the means testing, raising the age of eligibility. what are you hearing with regards to sbimgentitlement ref that they would like to see versus the entitlement reforms that the president and democrats are likely to offer? >> i think all of this is more nuanced than we know right now. john boehner has to let rates go up. i think that's right. whether or not it's to 37 or whether or not we raise the threshold from 250 to something like $500,000 at the point we call people rich, that's a possi...

They felt this is a nonstarter bringing up the debt ceiling, not being specific about entitlements. what is the democratic caucus' response to the speaker? >> i think he's wrong in this sense. i'm optimistic. i think things are coming to a head. the republicans have a clear choice to continue the norquist stranglehold or have it broken and the consequences, not continuing the middle class tax cut and continuing the wealthy for all the consequences for the unemployed, those who go to doctors and doctors have to be reimbursed, i think in the end the republicans will choose to have the hammer loc...