Newt Disses Ryan Medicare Plan

Politico reports:

Gingrich on his Facebook page inched away from Ryan’s plan to end Medicare as we know it and give seniors private insurance plans partially subsidized by the federal government. Instead, Gingrich backed an approach more in line with former Congressional Budget Office director Alice Rivlin and former Sen. Pete Domenici that keeps the current form of Medicare but allows seniors to select a private plan if they wish.

“One option is for Congress to move towards a 21st-century personal Medicare system that would allow seniors to choose, on a voluntary basis, a more personal system with greater options for better care,” Gingrich wrote on Wednesday night.

“On entitlement reforms, Paul Ryan has offered his ‘Path to Prosperity’ budget plan which stands in stark contrast to the 2012 budget proposed by the White House earlier this year,” Gingrich wrote. “Unlike Ryan’s plan, President Obama’s budget proposal ignored entitlement spending, which encompasses the largest share of the federal budget. Doing nothing to address the structural gaps in entitlement spending is no longer an option.”