What do you think happened when liberal Oregon Senator Ron Wyden partnered with Paul Ryan to submit a market-driven plan to reform Medicare?
Naturally, the White House flipped the heck out. Jay Carney cut-and-pasted a previous statement loaded with reactionary hyperbole over Ryan’s original plan to reform Medicare and used it to attack the latest proposal using nearly the same unoriginal, rote, and predictable crazy talk about the GOP’s causing grandma to lose healthcare if we dare touch an entitlement program that is rapidly careening toward complete bankruptcy.
But there’s a wrinkle the Left wasn't expecting with Ryan’s latest policy hammer: One of its own, Ron Wyden, is helping the Wisconsin congressman lead the charge. Sources on Capital Hill tell HUMAN EVENTS that Senator Wyden has been taking a beating behind the scenes from his own caucus.
They consider him a sellout, which they should. But luckily for us, this selling out encourages insurance providers to compete for the business of seniors rather than forcing America’s elderly into a one-size-fits service of care, an anachronistic operation on its face. In other words, Wyden is a believer in the power of markets and individuals. (Controversial, we know. Snort.)
“What Ron [Wyden] decided, it’s better that control and power be laid into the hands of the individual than the government,” Paul Ryan told HUMAN EVENTS, in the next installment of our interview with him over being named the 2011 “Conservative of the Year.”
Currently with healthcare, “the government is the controlling body,” notes Ryan. “The government decides what you get, if you get it, and when you get it.”
“We’re simply saying, the person ought to decide that. “
And with that, here’s Part 3 of our video interview with Paul Ryan, as we discuss the unexpected announcement of his getting a liberal Democrat to adopt Medicare reform.
