Dems tie Ryan Medicare proposal to vouchers

Democrats are describing Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) proposal to overhaul Medicare as a voucher program, but Ryan is rejecting the label.

Ryan and conservatives are dubbing the plan “premium support,” in which Medicare makes a payment to a private insurance plan chosen by seniors. The amount of Medicare support would be means tested, but those details weren’t available Tuesday.

But listening to Democrats talk about Ryan’s 2012 budget suggests he is rehashing his old proposal to provide a voucher to seniors to purchase insurance on their own.

“Ryan’s Medicare voucher plan is set up to slash benefits for retirees and people with disabilities," said Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), top Democrat on Ways and Means. "And there’s no way he can spin his way out of that disastrous web.”

Voucher has become somewhat of a dirty word in the Medicare arena. When Ryan first pitched vouchers in 2009, the proposal received a chilly reception from his party and polling showed little support for it. Fifty-one percent oppose a Medicare voucher plan, while 35 percent support it, according to a 2010 Associated Press-GfK poll.

Ryan tried to distance himself from the voucher plan during a Tuesday press conference on his budget proposal.

"This is a different proposal," Ryan said.

House Democrats, who have spent the past few months in the minority, have eagerly tied Republicans to Ryan’s voucher plan. During a Tuesday press conference, several House Democrats repeatedly dubbed Ryan’s proposal a voucher program.

When asked Tuesday the difference between voucher and premium support, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said there isn’t any.

“Whether you want to call it a voucher or call it a premium-support program, it all comes down to the same thing,” the Budget Committee’s top Democrat said. “Seniors no longer have the option to be in the Medicare program they are today.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), in a statement blasting Ryan’s proposal, said the GOP budget would transform Medicare into a “voucher-like” program.

But Republicans say that Democrats are trying their best to demagogue the debate over entitlement reform before it even starts.

“They’re going to want to slap a bumper sticker on it that will scare people, but we’re trying to have the adult conversation,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told The Hill. “If they have a better plan or suggestion, offer it.”

Van Hollen says Democrats will offer up an alternative budget, but he provided few details on Tuesday.