Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan: I might be able to support it.

Before, I get to Congressman Ryan's plan, let me discuss the meanness and idiocy of the hypocritical drivel that comes out in anti-ObamaCare commentary.

Let me quote a commentary that I feel is typical.

"The fact that the vast majority of the 6 million sign ups (a little short of the 48 million people that were uninsured 2 years ago, not to mention those who had insurance but lost it due to Obamacare) are the leeches to the system and hardly any of the people that Obamacare desperately NEEDS to survive (the healthy, young workers to are dumb enough to put way more money into the system as they will ever get out) are dumb enough to accept the extortion is a good indication that it will implode once the leeches start using the service.

And then there is the sticker shock those leeches will get when they realize that the El-Cheapo plans they signed up for have HUGE co-pays and deductibles and the bill they get the first time they visit a doctor will be higher than they thought it would cost even without insurance. So they will never go back."

First, why celebrate the fact that uninsured people for one reason or another chose to remain uninsured?  It is quite possible that many of these people live in states that chose not to expand Medicaid and these are low income working people whose employers could never afford to pay for medical insurance.

Second, why are lower income people "leeches"?  Are you only worthy of having health insurance if you are educated and sufficiently positioned to get a job that provides health insurance?  What about the ideal that all people are created equal in the eyes of the government?These tea party types are very selective in how they view the constitution.  What about the long time worker who gets laid off in their 50's and needs to buy an individual policy because no big time company will hire them?  It smacks of corporate greed.  "I am done with you as an employee, so just enjoy your life until you get sick, run out of money and die."

Third, insurance is not an investment that you get a return on every year.  It is protection against the unexpected and is there to protect you from financial ruin, not financial expense.  It is prudent.  These comments seem to promote the concept of adverse selection that leads to the insurance companies ruin if they do not price for it and, if they do price for it, you have to be rich to afford the insurance.

Fourth, everyone has deductibles and co-pays.  What type of insurance does this commentator want.  No deductibles or co-pays?  That doesn't exist any more.

All of this adds up to the reasons that the Heritage Foundation designed ObamaCare the way they did.  It is also exactly what Paul Ryan wants to change Medicare to.  I need to see the details, but I might be able to support Mr. Ryan's change to Medicare, if it is really Medicare Advantage for all, which is really ObamaCare for Medicare.  A little straightforward candor on the part of Congressman Ryan acknowledging that ObamaCare is a good way forward for all health insurance might gain him some progress in advancing his Medicare reform.  Medicare is sinking the government's finances and if he wants to pass the buck on the last 90 days of life issue to the insurance companies (and they are willing to take), so be it.