Ryan Open To Optional Medicare Plan

The Huffington Post reports:

The news from Thursday that House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was willing to make his proposal for privatizing Medicare optional was not really news at all.

While his budget creates a voucher system for Medicare -- giving seniors a check to purchase insurance through an established exchange -- Ryan has, in the past, expressed openness for allowing seniors to remain in the traditional fee-for-service system. So when he told the advocacy group No American Debt that he'd be comfortable with having "a fee-for-service option alongside premium support" on Thursday, it turned some heads but it wasn't inherently earth-shattering.

Conor Sweeney, a spokesman for the congressman, pointed out that Ryan told em>The Weekly Standard< in April that he didn't "have a problem" with allowing those under 55 to remain on traditional Medicare should they choose to do so. While he's presented his budget as financial solace for an entitlement program going bankrupt, Ryan added that allowing the choices wouldn't necessarily mitigate its "budgetary effect."

Yet when Ryan offered a similar variation of that response on Thursday, Democrats accused him of running away from the budget he authored.

"Republicans are not fooling anyone," said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "They voted to end Medicare and now they can’t take the heat. The only plan is called Medicare and we must strengthen it, not weaken it. What you’re hearing now is a lead balloon crashing to the ground."