This supposed Democrat is working with Paul Ryan of all people to make his abolition of Medicare a reality. Oh I know he can claim that the agreement he has worked in is alright because recipients would have a choice between Ryan's plan and the old system.
This is the same fallacy as with competition for public schools with the voucher programs. Fewer recipients will mean higher costs per recipient as less money will end up in traditional Medicare.
"Wyden and Ryan argue that the consumers’ choices will drive insurers and Medicare to be more efficient and price conscious, which would drive down all Medicare spending. If not, they would require Congress to act if Medicare spending growth exceeded the Gross Domestic Product plus 1 percent."
Sure the plan will drive down costs but how-by a lowering of the quality of benefits.Anytime you cut a program it has the marvelous result of lowering its cost. While I wont argue that any "bipartisan" deals are good things, Any time good legislation is passed it's a good thing whether or not it was a "partisan" or "bipartisan" deal. But any Democrat worth of the name won't even look at Ryan's plan as any kind of staring point. It must be a non-starter.
"The plan has the potential to be a political firecracker, but its most significant change — keeping traditional Medicare as an option — eliminates the greatest political assault lobbed at Ryan’s plan: that it would “end Medicare.”
No. Don't be fooled by that canard. This is not immediate explicit "ending Medicare" but a Trojan horse to achieve the same thing by another name. It's stealth and may take a little more time but the ultimate effect will be sizable benefit cuts. Wyden is a real disappointment, another DINO.
No comments:
Post a Comment