Paul Ryan: No Help for Minority Health

By: Kellee Terrell | Posted: August 24, 2012 at 12:12 AM

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In a piece for BET, Kellee Terrell says that Paul Ryan's vision for health care would be disastrous for blacks and Latinos, in part because of the billions in cuts he has proposed to programs like Medicare.

With presidential nominee Mitt Romney naming Wisconsin Sen. Paul Ryan as his running mate for the 2012 election, there are some serious concerns about how their combined policies will impact Black America.

How would a Romney-Ryan White House impact our health and access to health care?

Many believe that it could have disastrous consequences given the billions in cuts they have proposed. Ryan wants to make some serious changes to Medicare, where nearly 50 percent of the program's 50 million participants are African-American and Latino, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Under Ryan's proposal, future seniors, those now 55 and younger, would have the option of taking a government stipend to buy insurance on the private market or apply it toward the costs of Medicare -- though it is not guaranteed that the funds would cover the price of joining the traditional Medicare program.

Also, a Romney-Ryan White House would mean serious cuts to food stamp programs for working-class and low-income Americans. From the Huffington Post:

If Ryan gets his way and gets to make drastic cuts to the food stamp program, who will he really be hurting? A lot of children and senior citizens, for starters. The records show that 47 percent of everyone receiving food stamp benefits are children under the age of 18. Another 6 percent of those receiving them are seniors over the age of 60. And it doesn't stop there, 41 percent of those who are receiving food stamps actually do work. They are considered part of the "working poor" people of America.

Read Kellee Terrell's entire piece at BET.com.

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