Reid: Sen. Wyden against Medicare reforms in Ryan budget

[flpoljunkie]

Source: The Hill

Reid: Sen. Wyden against Medicare reforms in Ryan budget

By Alexander Bolton - 03/20/12 03:06 PM ET

Harry Reid said Wyden, who came out in support of the House GOP budget reforms, is against the Medicare changes.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told him that he does not support House GOP plans to reform Medicare, despite earlier indications to the contrary.

Reid said Wyden assured him that he would not team up with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to propose Medicare reforms that would require the traditional fee-for-service program to compete with premium support plans that subsidize seniors to buy medical care in an open marketplace.

Ryan, the chairman of the House Republican Budget Committee, will mark up his budget resolution at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It includes a new plan that would provide future seniors with subsidies to use for Medicare or private insurance.

“I talked to Ron Wyden this morning, of course, and he said that’s not true. He doesn’t like the budget Ryan came up with. We all recognize all that does is make the rich richer and have bigger hits on the middle class and it ruins Medicare as we know it.”


Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/217073-reid-sen-wyden-against-medicare-reforms-in-ryan-budget

[CreekDog]

1. Wyden doesn't seem to get that when he signs on to a diff plan with Ryan's name on it

that people will think, and/or say, that he's supporting the *other* Ryan plan.

how clueless can one be?

[The Magistrate]

2. So Wyden Is Not Just A Dim Pimp, He Is A Wimp As Well

If you are going to do something stupid and destructive like teaming up with Ryan in the first place, the least you can do is be a stand-up guy about it....

"A good friend will be there to bail you out of jail in the morning. A great friend will be sitting there beside you saying 'How the fuckdid we get caught?'"

[EC]

3. Then why

IS HIS NAME STILL ON IT...

[flpoljunkie]

4. Ryan changed premium support subsidy from GDP plus 1% to 0.5% which shifts more of costs to seniors

The Medicare reforms proposed in the budget Ryan unveiled Tuesday are slightly different than the plan he put forth earlier with Wyden.

The original Ryan-Wyden plan would create a premium support plan that would allow seniors to purchase private health plans in competition with traditional Medicare.

That plan would increase premium support subsidies by the rate of gross domestic product plus 1 percent. The blueprint Ryan introduced this week would cap the growth of the premium support plan at the rate of GDP plus 0.5 percent.

Wyden told The Hill earlier Tuesday that he prefers a formula at GDP plus 1 percent.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/217073-reid-sen-wyden-against-medicare-reforms-in-ryan-budget

[ieoeja]

6. There is still a disconnect between Wyden's defense and Reid's defense of Wyden.

From OP: "Reid said Wyden assured him that he would not team up with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to propose Medicare reforms that would require the traditional fee-for-service program to compete with premium support plans that subsidize seniors to buy medical care in an open marketplace."

From you: "The blueprint Ryan introduced this week would cap the growth of the premium support plan at the rate of GDP plus 0.5 percent. Wyden told The Hill earlier Tuesday that he prefers a formula at GDP plus 1 percent."


So Wyden would team up with Ryan to privatize Medicare if it doubled the subsidy growth.

[flpoljunkie]

7. Don't know but question is moot since Wyden does not support the Ryan budget--of which this is part.

[ieoeja]

9. I asked no question. He flat out stated that he would support it if the subsidy were doubled.

[flpoljunkie]

5. Searched the full Ryan budget. Wyden's name nowhere to be found, though Alice Rivlin's is.

http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf

This reform builds upon the bipartisan Rivlin-Ryan Medicare reform plan advanced in the President’s Fiscal Commission in 2010.

[flpoljunkie]

8. Searched the wrong Ryan budget, but Wyden still not mentioned in 2013 Ryan Budget.

http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Pathtoprosperity2013.pdf