Ryan’s Plan For Health Care Doesn’t Give His Constituents What He Gets

Submitted by Cheston Catalano

Paul Ryan says his health care plan gives constituents the same coverage he gets; but it’s not true.

Republican vice presidential candidate Ryan’s plan to revamp the health-care program for the elderly wouldn’t have the safeguards against rising costs included in the coverage that lawmakers and other federal workers receive…

Critics say if costs exceed that cap — as they sometimes have in the past — seniors will bear a larger share of their health-care costs, something that isn’t possible with the federal workers’ plan because of the fair-share formula.

The difference comes down to who bears the risk of rising health-care costs, said Uwe Reinhardt, a health-care economist at Princeton University in New Jersey.

“It’s the allocation of risk,” he said. Under Ryan’s plan, “the risk of rapid health-spending inflation, should it happen, is borne by the elderly and with the congressmen, it’s taxpayers.”

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.