The other Paul Ryan plan: $800B in Medicaid cuts
Source: Associated Press
Congressman Paul Ryan's plan for Medicare gets all the attention, but the GOP vice presidential candidate has proposed even bigger changes to medical care for the poor and disabled.
The Wisconsin congressman is calling for states to take over the Medicaid program.
At the same time, Ryan's budget would reduce projected federal spending on Medicaid by about $800 billion over 10 years, shrinking the program as a share of the overall national economy.
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Advocates for the poor and nonpartisan analysts say cuts would result in millions of vulnerable people losing health insurance. Republicans say that won't happen if states can make the program more efficient.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/other-paul-ryan-plan-800b-medicaid-cuts-071209801--finance.html?_esi=1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120815/us-ryan-medicaid/
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Under the Wisconsin congressman's Medicaid plan, states would take over the program. Simultaneously, Ryan's proposed budget would reduce projected federal spending by about $800 billion over 10 years, shrinking Medicaid as a share of the overall national economy. The plan has passed the Republican-led House two years in a row.
Ryan would also repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, expected to add at least 11 million more people to Medicaid.
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Ryan's plan goes beyond tweaking. It would essentially rip up the Medicaid manual and start all over again. States would get a lump sum from Washington, a "block grant" indexed to reflect population growth and inflation. The idea has governors split along party lines.
Ryan's Medicare plan, shifting future retirees to private insurance, would phase in over a decade or more. But the Medicaid changes would come much more rapidly. The proposal has not been fleshed out in detail, leaving many unanswered questions. For example:
jmowreader
(50,562 posts)The major problem with this "block grant" proposal is this:
Step 1: The government block-grants Medicaid money to the states.
Step 2: The states run by Republicans will cut their Medicaid spending to the bare bones, or eliminate it entirely, because
(a) block grant recipients have a lot of leeway in how they use the money, and there are always more pressing needs (like tax cuts) than providing healthcare to poor people
(b) if the state has an appealing Medicaid plan people will move there to take advantage of it. Or so the theory goes. The problem with this theory is, if someone is so poor they need to be on Medicaid how are they going to find money to move?
Step 3: Every state has at least SOME Republicans in it, and if a state that has almost nothing but (like Idaho) uses their Medicaid block grants to pay for tax cuts, the Republicans in the blue states will start to wonder openly why Blue State X cannot do likewise.
Step 4: Because no state is using its "federal grant to pay for poor people's healthcare" to actually pay for poor people's healthcare, a Republican Congress will declare it to be pork and eliminate it. It will be replaced, naturlich, by more tax cuts for rich people.
Is it just Ryan's eyes that make him look like a psychopath, or is it his actions?
TomCADem
(17,390 posts)After all, who cares about the facts behind Romney/Ryan's plan to destroy Medicare when Americans really care about whether Ryan does Pilates, PX-90 or Tae Bo.
Sick of the GOP
(65 posts)clueless
lovuian
(19,362 posts)and giveth to the Rich