Ryan: ‘We Will Decide Later’ How And When To Tackle Medicare Privatization

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., speaks during a breakfast with Pennsylvania delegates during the Republican National Convention on, Monday, July 18, 2016, in Westlake, Ohio. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said that plans to overhaul Medicare remain “unresolved” in the lead-up to Donald Trump’s inauguration.

“We haven’t addressed that. That’s an unresolved issue. I haven’t even spoke with the president-elect about that,” Ryan told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in a Monday interview.

The House speaker has for years proposed radical reforms to Medicare that involve replacing the current system with private health insurance supported in part by government subsidies.

A number of Republican House lawmakers, including Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, have called on Congress to move quickly on Medicare privatization now that the GOP has control of the House, Senate and White House. Some GOP senators have expressed reservations, however.

Ryan suggested he has no plan of dropping the issue, but that the timing and method for taking on Medicare is not yet decided.

“We have a future of insolvency with Medicare that needs to be addressed. How and when we address that is something we will decide later,” he told the Journal-Sentinel.

Ryan added that he has “no doubt” that the President-elect, who has said he does not support slashing social welfare programs, “wants to save Medicare for future seniors.”

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  1. Avatar for rb639 rb639 says:

    So the married into money and the born into money have not officially met to decide how to screw over the plebes. How reassuring.

  2. Allow me to translate:

    “I really was gonna do this right out of the gate, but it’s now looking like I’ve gotta spend God knows how long shoring up support for it, so, whenever…”

  3. Shorter Ryan: As soon as we impeach The Idiot and install Pence, I will have it fast tracked, bypassing even the senate. Kochs will take care of the rest.

  4. So when all these medical costs are shifted to future seniors with Vouchercare, these seniors won’t have any money-- they don’t have pensions, they’ve had stagnant wages fro 25 years, and haven’t saved for retirement…what do they think will happen? Ryan will be retired with his Gov’t insurance, he won’t care. But as a practical matter, senior will take the brunt of this, and they really won’t have any money to cover the medical costs. What is the plan then?

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