On the claim that the Ryan plan's Medicare cuts are no bigger than those of the Affordable Care Act



<p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; text-align: left; ">On Thomas Saving and John Goodman's claim that the Ryan plan has no larger Medicare cuts in it than the Affordable Care Act does: Saving and Goodman: "In light of the heated rhetoric of recent days, it is worth noting that for everyone over the age of 55, there is no difference between the amount of money the House Republicans voted to spend on Medicare and the amount that the Democrats who support the health-reform law voted to spend. Even for younger people, the amounts are virtually identical with GDP indexing..." The key here is "GDP indexing." Ryan says that the Ryan plan does not have "GDP indexing" but "CPI indexing"--and that makes half the difference. The other half of the difference is that the Ryan plan requires that Medicare beneficiaries pay the (expensive) administrative overhead and (expensive) profits of private insurance companies, while the ACA does not.