Thursday, May 26, 2011

Media Still Love Ryan "Boldness"

Writing in today's Wash Post (link unavailable), reporter Dan Balz says about the Ryan Medicare Plan:

Ryan (Wis) earned plaudits for putting forward a bold proposal on the table to deal with what is genuinely a national problem. But without significant debate and discussion, House Republicans pressed ahead voted to embrace it...

Acknowledging the lack of "significant debate and discussion" is surely a colossal understatement. The Democratic HCR was debated ad nauseum (mostly falsely, i.e. death panels) for over a year. The Medicare Voucher Plan was rushed through in a manner of days after it's publication. The ink was barely dry on Ryan's budget documents before House Republicans (R-Teabagger) voted almost en masse in favor.

But aside from having the Ryan Medicare Bill "rammed down our throats", that the bill still keeps getting labeled "bold" by Media Villagers is more than mortal citizens should have to bare. It's indicative, I think, of the media establishment's regret that the plan wasn't unquestioningly embraced by consumers of health care and the families that care about them.

Update: Andrew Sullivan highlights a Center For Budget and Policy Priorities post by Paul N. Van de Water that shows healthcare spending for the elderly would actually increase under the Ryan Medicare Voucher Plan. And most of this increase would be born by the elderly themselves.

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