Why do we keep talking about vouchers in the Ryan plan? The word "voucher" only dignifies or obfuscates what the GOP is trying to do. It's time we explain what a cynical, selfish, and short-sighted plan they're proposing, and do it in language everybody understands: The GOP wants to replace Medicare with a coupon book.
Voucher? Coupon? There's not a big difference between them, but if you press for a difference, you might get this:
A coupon discounts a price by a set amount, or a set percentage A voucher can be traded for a good or service
Sure, most vouchers can be traded for the barest minimum -- a meal voucher at an airport won't buy you more than a Whopper Junior and a cup of tap water. But when we talk about government-issued vouchers, people have different expectations. Many people assume a school voucher will be accepted in lieu of tuition, and at some schools, it is. A Section 8 housing voucher limits your out-of-pocket to 30% of your monthly income -- the more you need it, the more it's worth.
But the Ryan plan does neither of these things. In fact, the value would be tied to the CPI, not the actual price of health care, which rises much faster than inflation in the cost of plastic forks. What's more, private plans have higher overhead than Medicare, and so they cost more for the same level of service. Because of these two failings, the CBO estimates that by 2030, the Ryan plan will cover only 32% of the cost of a basic health care plan.
So it's not a voucher, it's a coupon. When it kicks in, you might get a coupon for $8000, which sounds like a lot until you realize insurance costs $20,000. And that's in the first year. It gets worse from there.
Perhaps if seniors could choose low-overhead Medicare, we could talk about vouchers in the Ryan plan. But there would be no such choice, because even Paul Ryan realizes nobody would choose a higher-cost private plan if they didn't have to. This proves that the Ryan plan wasn't designed to ensure adequate health care for seniors. It's not even about reducing the deficit. It's a way to make rich insurance company executives richer by draining seniors' bank accounts of every last penny.
Clearly, the Ryan plan is a strategy to drive consumers to a handful of insurance companies, so those companies can make even greater profits. And that makes it a coupon, just like every coupon that comes in the Sunday paper.
So let's not talk about vouchers anymore. Their plan isn't new and improved Medicare. It's not premium support. It's not even vouchers. The GOP wants to replace Medicare with a coupon book.