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Johnson: I’m fighting for seniors
AUSTINTOWN
U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, a Republican from Marietta, told a group of seniors he is “fighting day in and day out” to make sure any changes to Medicare wouldn’t affect them.
Johnson added he supports a repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.
Johnson, R-6th, spoke to about 60 seniors Monday at the Austintown Senior Center.
Johnson supports a House Republican-backed plan that impacts Medicare for those under the age of 55. The plan would provide a set amount of money for future Medicare beneficiaries to purchase a private health plan or the traditional government-administered program through a Medicare exchange.
The plan doesn’t change Medicare for those at least 55 years old.
“Medicare is going bankrupt, and it will cease to exist by 2024 if we do nothing,” Johnson said.
There are 10,000 new Medicare enrollees a day, and people are living 20 years longer than when the program was first put in place, he said.
“We’ve got to do something to save Medicare,” he said. “Everyday I go to work, I make sure we don’t lose our Medicare benefits.”
Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, Johnson’s Democratic challenger in the fall election, opposes the Republican bill, saying a number of times that it “would kill Medicare as we know it.”
Johnson also told the seniors the federal health-care reform, recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, “amounts to one of the largest tax increases” in history.
Hardly anyone in the audience lives in Johnson’s district; most live in the 17th Congressional District. The congressman was invited by center officials as was Wilson, his Democratic challenger, who will be there Aug. 21, said Jim Henshaw, the facility’s executive director.
Henshaw said he hasn’t yet invited U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Niles, who represents Austintown, or Marisha Agana of Howland, his Republican challenger, to speak to the seniors.
Johnson’s talk interrupted the seniors’ bingo game, leading the congressman to apologize. Johnson said his 80-year-old mother loves to talk to him except when she’s playing bingo or cards, which drew laughs from the seniors.
Johnson also said he is working to create an economy that would allow the seniors’ children and grandchildren to have jobs in the area and not move away from home.
He said the area has the opportunity to be at the forefront of an energy boom because of the natural gas in the Utica and Marcellus shales. Johnson said the federal government needs to stop over-regulating businesses and industries, including natural gas drilling.
Robert Smith of Mineral Ridge, a retiree who listened to Johnson, said the congressman is “doing real good. He’s a good speaker.”
But Margaret McCormick of Austintown, also a retiree who was wearing a Democratic button, wasn’t impressed, saying Johnson “told the group what they wanted to hear, but, as usual, was evasive.”