Ryan Will Push Medicare Privatization

Speaker Paul Ryan told Fox News that “entitlement reform” was part of his plan to abolish Obamacare and that includes major changes to Medicare.

Said Ryan: “If you’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare, you have to address those issues as well. … Medicare has got some serious issues because of Obamacare. So those things are part of our plan to replace Obamacare… Because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke.”

Jonathan Chait: “This is false. In fact, it’s the complete opposite of the truth. The Medicare trust fund has been extended 11 years as a result of the passage of Obamacare, whose cost reforms have helped bring health care inflation to historic lows. It is also untrue that repealing Obamacare requires changing traditional Medicare. But Ryan clearly believes he needs to make this claim in order to sell his plan, or probably even to convince fellow Republicans to support it.”