Ryan Plan for Medicaid is Simply a Cost Shifting Plan

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There has been a lot of discussion about Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare by giving seniors vouchers that can be used to purchase insurance. Since the value of the vouchers does not rise as fast as insurance premiums have risen, it shifts the cost of price inflation to senior citizens. Ryan's plan for Medicaid is more of the same. It provides block grants to the states that do not increase at the rate of healthcare inflation. This shifts the burden to the states.

To make matters worse, Ryan would repeal the Affordable Care Act that includes mechanisms for reducing healthcare price inflation. Ryan's plan does nothing to reduce price inflation, it simply shifts the burden from the federal budget to beneficiaries or to the states. In other words, its a shell game wrapped in the cloak of deficit reduction and free market ideology. Moreover, his plan for Medicare, which has lower administration costs than private insurance companies, would substitute an inefficient system for a more efficient system and add to the cost of healthcare. Insurance companies would be the only winners in that game.