An honest debate over Medicare?s future may be too much to hope for in an election year. But candidates should think twice before staking out positions that could tie their hands in next year?s unavoidable showdown over public debts and Medicare spending.
After all, 50 percent will win and actually have to govern. That?s why it?s a big mistake to allow the leading bipartisan proposal for Medicare reform ? the Wyden-Ryan plan ? to fall victim to election-year Medagoguery.
Continue ReadingIt?s the brainchild of Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, a progressive Medicare champion who once led a Gray Panthers chapter in Oregon, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the Budget Committee and darling of tea party conservatives. If this political odd couple can agree on a balanced way to slow the unsustainable growth of Medicare costs, there may be hope for real entitlement reform yet.
That is, if their blueprint survives the 2012 campaign. Many Democrats are furious with Wyden for complicating their plans to charge Ryan and House Republicans with conspiring to ?end Medicare as we know it.? They?d planned to run against Ryan?s previous call, in his 2011 budget proposal, for replacing Medicare?s guarantee to a defined set of benefits with a stingy voucher that seniors could use to buy private health insurance.
Rather than accept that Ryan has made a major concession by joining forces with Wyden, some liberals and seniors lobbies are still trying to conflate Wyden-Ryan with the Wisconsin Republican?s original ? and deeply flawed ? voucher proposal. (Henceforth, Ryan I.) Their attempts to demonize Wyden-Ryan with the dreaded V-word are both inaccurate and unfair. It also obscures features of Wyden-Ryan that merit progressives? support.
There are three crucial differences between these two approaches:
First, Wyden-Ryan retains traditional fee-for-service Medicare as a guaranteed option for retirees. Liberals take note: This is the Medicare equivalent of the ?public option? you wanted President Barack Obama to include in his health reform proposal.
At the heart of Wyden-Ryan is premium support, a concept with liberal lineage that is intended to rein in Medicare?s explosive cost growth as the baby boomers retire. It would replace today?s s open-ended subsidy for seniors? medical bills with a fixed payment to help them buy health insurance ? either from Medicare or private plans. Where Ryan I was about privatization, Wyden-Ryan is about competition
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