Great video from U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) explaining what is currently wrong with Medicare and how his Path to Prosperity plan will fix it.
Power Line reports:
Medicare is heading for collapse, as all well-informed citizens know. The question is what to do about it. Democrats welcome the collapse, and have incorporated it as part of their strategy to force socialized medicine on unwilling Americans. Republicans, for better or worse, are trying to save the Medicare program in something like its present form.
[...]
[T]he best thing about the House Republicans’ approach is that it goes a long way toward restoring patient choice and market competition to our health care system. That won’t just benefit senior citizens, it will benefit everyone.
Bravo Rep. Ryan and keep up the good work.
As for the left’s response, here it is:
Demagoguery.
Reminder: Americans 55 years old or older will not be affected by Rep. Ryan’s plan anyway. Misleading? I think you know the answer.
*UPDATE* – May 25, 2011 – 10:45 pm
Rep. Ryan went on Fox & Friends this morning to defend his plan:
*UPDATE* – May 25, 2011 – 11:05 pm
Former President Bill Clinton told Rep. Ryan that he believes the Democrats need to do something about Medicare. ABC News reports:
“So anyway, I told them before you got here, I said I’m glad we won this race in New York,” Clinton told Ryan, when the two met backstage at a forum on the national debt held by the Pete Peterson Foundation. But he added, “I hope Democrats don’t use this as an excuse to do nothing.”
Ryan told Clinton he fears that now nothing will get done in Washington.
“My guess is it’s going to sink into paralysis is what’s going to happen. And you know the math. It’s just, I mean, we knew we were putting ourselves out there. You gotta start this. You gotta get out there. You gotta get this thing moving,” Ryan said.
Clinton told Ryan that if he ever wanted to talk about it, he should “give me a call.” Ryan said he would.
Oh, and it gets better. The New York Times reports:
Former President Bill Clinton, still widely considered one of his party’s foremost politicians, said on Wednesday that Democrats should cut a “reasonable” deal with Republicans on Medicare savings rather than conclude from Tuesday’s upset in a special Congressional election that bashing Republicans on the issue is the key to a party comeback in 2012.
[...]
Mr. Clinton, with some passion, returned to the topic at the end of an hour-long interview. “I think the Democrats are going to have to be willing to give up, maybe, some short-term political gain by whipping up fears on some of these things — if it’s a reasonable Social Security proposal, a reasonable Medicare proposal. We’ve got to deal with these things. You cannot have health care devour the economy.”
Great soundbite.
