So Paul Ryan was apparently asked about what Newt Gingrich, the next GOP Hopeful to flame-out, crash and burn like Donald Trump just did, said about his plan yesterday on Meet the Press.
And his response was...
"With allies like that, who needs the left?" Ryan told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.
Gingrich lit into the plan on Meet The Press yesterday, comparing it to Obamacare and warning Republicans it constituted "radical change from the right" that would be "too big a jump" for the country.
"Hardly is that social engineering and radical," Ryan said on Monday. "What's radical is kicking the can down the road."
Well, I guess our work is done and we can all dust off our hands and go on back to Cali now then?
I don't think so.
Newt as usual, was of course spewing intellectual sounding noneense and is now back pedaling through his spokes people to point out what parts of Ryan's plan he agrees with such as his suggestion to block grant the Medicaid program to the states as the states as this would save $billions from the Federal Treasury.
It would also happen to dump $Billion of costs on the State Treasuries and force them to increase cost, cut benefits and/or reduce eligibility for Medicaid beneficiaries. Yeah, that's a great plan for increasing access to health care, except for the - uh - increasing part.
Almost no one has bothered to report what the CBO has already said about the Ryan plan which is outlined in this chart showing how out-of-pocket costs for seniors will be impacted by his proposal.
In 2022 when Ryan's plan kicks in the cost of Private insurance is estimated to be 34% greater than that of regular Medicare (Like Medicare Advantage which is 28% more expensive), and those seniors will now be forced to buy that private care, no longer having the option of Medicare and would have to pay 61% of the cost of that care out of their own pocket. By 2030 that increases to 68% which is greater than the entire cost of regular Medicare would be for that person.
And you know where that additional cost is going to come from don't you? It's going to come directly out of their social security checks the same way that payments to Medicare Advantage do now, so not only is this a cut to Medicare, it's a cut to Social Security pay outs as well.
And Ryan doesn't think this is "radical"? He doesn't think it's "Social Engineering"?
The only attempt at "cost containment" in his plan is to dump the cost onto individuals and force them to try and shop for the best deal with private insurers who don't want to insure them anyway.
"Social Engineering" is exactly what that is, and as anyone who is currently on the private insurance market, who have been seeing higher and higher contributions to health care out of their own paychecks for the last 15 years can attest to, that engineering plan to reduce costs is deeply, seriously flawed.
Ryan says we shouldn't "kick the can down the road", well I'm sorry but the CBO said after the Affordable Care Act was passed that it actually The Medicare Trust Fund was Extended another 12 years. Again, that hasn't been widely reported although I have seen it mentioned that the latest Trustee Report which came out a couple days ago has downgraded the health of the fund due to rising costs and lessened revenues by 5 years from 2029 to 2024 - but they usually neglect to mention that it's still 7 years better than it was before the passage of the ACA.
Speaking of "Kicking the Can" because of the Radical tax cuts in the Ryan Plan and his repeal of most of the ACA, his budget actually increases the deficit dramatically and doesn't begin to come anywhere near balance until 2050! So exactly who is kicking what here?
Ultimately getting more Americans back to work is the best way to increase revenues, and gaining savings be increasing efficiency, rather than simply shifting the costs onto the backs of seniors is a better way to solve the problems with Medicare.
Neither Gingrich or Ryan have the courage to do the right thing here, and reminding us all of that is exactly what "The Left" is needed to do.
Vyan
Updated by Vyan at Mon May 16, 2011 at 11:13 AM PDT
Ryan was just greeted in Chicago by Protestors.
The protesters carried signs that read "Hands off my Medicare," "Hands off my Social Security," and "Paul Ryan plan: Let them eat cat food."
Ryan is chairman of the House Budget Committee. He's in Chicago on Monday to speak at the Economic Club of Chicago.