Moneybox: Paul Ryan?s Medicare Scheme

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Moneybox Paul Ryan's Medicare Scheme His new proposal is less radical than his last one, and it just might pass if Obama loses. By Matthew Yglesias Posted Thursday, Dec 15, 2011, at 11:05 PM ET Say what you will about House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., but he knows a thing or two about how to shift the Overton Window. If 18 months ago he'd unveiled a plan to drastically cut Medicare spending and also partially privatize the program, nobody would have thought it was in any way bipartisan or a compromise. Yet at a Dec. 15 press conference, Ryan was able to unveil the plan in partnership with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and get it—accurately—described as a major leftward shift in his own thinking. To understand how, we need to walk back to the incredible radicalism of the budget proposal he unveiled at the beginning of the year and—remarkably—got the vast majority of Republicans to vote for. Ryan's original plan had a number of astounding elements, but the most politically salient element dealt with Medicare. He offered, in essence, a sleight of hand. His goal was to produce massive long-term savings in Medicare spending relative to current projections, in order to show a way to sustain the United States government consistent with never raising taxes from the Bush-era level. This is the budgetary equivalent of Mission Impossible, since one important thing the federal government does is pay for old people's health care. That's an expensive task, and it's a task that grows more expensive over time. Ryan's solution was to simply wave his hand and decree that in the future federal expenditures on ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Does Drinking Make You a Better Writer? The Science Behind Hitchens' Theory. Why Midwesterners Are So Proud of the Massive 1811 Earthquake That Rocked America David Corn: What I Learned From Sharing a Tiny Office With Hitchens	Advertisement
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