Paul Ryan’s Voucher Plan for Medicare

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I imagine that we’re going to spend a fair amount of time this week talking about Paul Ryan’s plan to cut corporate taxes and slash Medicare, but I think I’ll wait until tomorrow to jump in. I’d rather react to the plan itself than to the Sunday chat show version of what the plan might be.

But I’ll just say this in advance: I’m pretty sure that Ryan is going to loudly and relentlessly insist that his Medicare proposal isn’t a voucher plan. I’m not sure why, but I assume that “voucher” must have polled poorly in some recent Frank Luntz poll or something. But if it walks like voucher, talks like a voucher, and quacks like a voucher, then it’s a voucher.

And it does, and it is. So don’t let Ryan pull the wool over your eyes on this. You can like or dislike the plan all you want, but it’s based on giving you money and then sending you into the private market to buy your own health insurance. That’s a voucher, no matter how many times Ryan says it isn’t. What’s more, I’m pretty sure it isn’t even a very good voucher plan. But I guess we’ll know for sure tomorrow.