Health Care Reform Articles - April 8, 2011

Is GOP Medicare Ploy a Gift, or a Trap?

How Democrats could win the battle—but lose the war—on entitlements.

By Suzy Khimm | Tue Apr. 5, 2011 12:01 AM PDT

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For Democrats, it seems like a gift from above. On the very day that President Obama officially launches his reelection bid, House budget guru Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announces a plan to privatize Medicare. This latest GOP cost-cutting scheme amounts to a medical voucher system: Rather than paying for care directly, the government would help elderly Americans purchase private insurance. "It's going to end Medicare as we know it," says Nadeam Elshami, communications director for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), repeating [1] the new Democratic talking point.
http://motherjones.com/print/107341