Medicare, the health care plan for the elderly, is a tricky issue for Paul Ryan. He wants to get rid of it and replace it with one supported by a voucher system. That’s why in his budget plan for the House, there is a $700B spending cut for Medicare.
He’s attacking Barack Obama for trying to take the same $700B from Medicare to help fund the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). So what makes his $700B cut good and Obama’s bad?
“We are the ones who are not raiding Medicare to pay for Obamacare,” Ryan told Fox News anchor Brit Hume.
Obama’s taking money from one federal program to help fund another, transferring money from one program to another. Ryan is cutting just for the sake of cutting. That $700B isn’t being re-used for anything else. It’s just gone.
At least Obama’s cuts won’t affect the coverage for the elderly; it’s only taking money away from hospitals and care providers by improving efficiencies and getting rid of wasteful spending. In other words, the $700B is a savings, not a cut.
Under Ryan’s plan, it’s a pure cut.
Failing to give a convincing answer to reporters, Ryan backtracks and now says he’s never supported the $700B Medicare cut in his own budget plan. He only included it because it’s in Obamacare.
Now I know why Mitt Romney chose him to be his Vice President: they will change their stance at the drop of a hat.
