The debate over Medicare (US government healthcare for seniors) is off to a rocky start.
The Romney-Ryan campaign has a problem. It is hammering President Barack Obama for cutting $716 billion out of Medicare over the next decade. But Paul Ryan’s budget, approved this year by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, includes those same cuts.
Conservatives are protesting that Ryan’s plan to cut Medicare is different from the president’s. They’re right — Ryan would actually cut $205 billion more out of Medicare over the next ten years than Obama would. You can see that on page 91 of his Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal.
How does Ryan plan to achieve Medicare cuts that are deeper than the president’s? Well, he doesn’t say. ….
We do know one means of generating Medicare savings over the next decade that Ryan is not proposing: premium support, his signature proposal to have traditional Medicare bid against private plans. Ryan does not propose to implement premium support until 2022, meaning that it cannot be responsible for any Medicare savings he expects during the next decade.
Josh Barro, “Romney-Ryan Want It Both Ways on Medicare“, Bloomberg View, 15 August 2012.
There is more at the link. Stay tuned. This will be interesting.
HT Tyler Cowen
