The Medicare Debate: Eliminating = Saving

The Ryan long-run fiscal plan has so many twists and turns, it is truly amazing. For starters, the Republicans are once again telling us that cutting taxes is the path to reducing the deficit. But then Paul Ryan did come up with one idea of how to cut government spending – his phase-out of the Medicare program. Of course, Speaker Boehner and other Republican leaders are realizing that if they get behind Ryan’s proposal to phase out Medicare, it will cost them politically. So they at first decided to duck and run from this idea. But ala Twitter, the Speaker wants us to know he has not abandoned the Ryan Medicare phase-out proposal:

Saving Medicare off the table? Absolutely not. Nothing is off the table except raising taxes. Tax hikes will hurt economy & job creation.

So the Ryan proposal is supposed to “save” Medicare by eliminating it! George Orwell would be proud!