In Chicago this afternoon, Rep. Paul Ryan will rebut critics of his plan for Medicare, endorsed by the House GOP in April. According to NRO, his prepared remarks will include this:
Our plan is to give seniors the power to deny business to inefficient providers. Their plan is to give government the power to deny care to seniors.
“Our plan” here is the House Republicans’ one to convert Medicare into a premium support program. “Their plan” is anything Obama and the Democrats have offered or passed, like the Affordable Care Act.
There are two things odd about these sentences. First, the Republican plan has nothing to say about providers, like hospitals or physicians. It’s a plan for insurance reform under Medicare, not a plan for provider organization or payment reform. Second, the ACA has nothing in it to deny care to seniors. In fact, Medicare is not permitted to do anything of the sort.
So, this segment of the speech seems like a rebuttal, but not of the arguments that have been offered against Rep. Ryan’s plan and not in support of what that plan actually is.
