Over recent days, as I’ve spoken to people in the world who might lead the fight against Paul Ryan’s plan to phaseout Medicare and replace it with private insurance vouchers and one message is quite clear: No one is paying attention. No one is ready. No one has a plan. Half the people are still too shell-shocked to think about anything. The other half are telling themselves something so crazy can’t happen. But wait, at least one person on TV is starting to talk about this.
Just a few moments ago on MSNBC Kristen Welker had this exchange with HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
WELKER: Secretary Burwell, as you likely know, House Speaker Paul Ryan is talking about phasing out Medicare. He’s arguing it is a drag. There’s a better way to insure those people.
BURWELL: Medicare is an incredibly important part of our nation’s financial and health security for our seniors for over 50 years at this point. We know that what has happened and what is the truth is the life of the Medicare trust fund or our ability to pay for those benefits has increased since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. We also know Medicare spending since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, we saved $473 billion and that’s for the taxpayer.
