Yes, I agree. Health insurance has been re-written into something it should not be. This is largely a result of government over-regulation. It also has to do with its acceptance as a ‘benefit’ - whether from an employer or the government for low income and elderly. This must be broken or we are in serious trouble. Ryan’s plans in both the 2011 and 2012 budget do make significant changes to the programs. For medicare, it returns much of the program to the private sector and follows the structure of Medicare part D that has consistently beat budget numbers. For medicaid it block grants back to the states, lowering the federal control over the programs. I agree, he does not eliminate them, but he does drastically overhaul both and get the spending under control. In both cases, there is a significantly reduced role in federal control, which is a conservative victory. There is no public interest in eliminating either, which is why Ryan’s plans could potentially get through the cheese grater of partisan politics. He did some nice things in the 2012 budget, adopting some of the bi-partisan efforts to reform medicare. The Ryan budgets not perfect, but they are significant steps. They both move the ball forward, which is the ultimate goal.
The larger issue of healthcare problems that the rest of us face are different. IMO, I don’t want to see ‘overhauls’ or ‘comprehensive’ bills. They get too ugly. We need to push 1-2 key reforms at a time in digestible bites...ideas that are popular and can be easily supported. Both parties seem to produce terrible legislation when they try to do the big overhauls. We have nearly 100 years of bad legislation, and need to reform in modest steps to keep the American people behind it.
Education is so much more complex to change course. Any change is so easily demagogued. While the problems are more staightforward than health care, the solutions are so much more difficult to implement.
No, I agree we need to make gradual changes instead of sweeping measures as long as we can stick to our end game. I can support Ryan’s plan as a first step, but we do need to counter the marxist dialogue on the relationship of the people to the government. I disagree on education only on the idea that the solutions are tougher, because the federal intervention has been costly and harmful. Take it from me, I went to a public school. I remember the ‘Got Marx?’ Flyer in the teacher’s lounge among many other horrors. About half my biology class was spent on evolution, it was like attending the church of Darwinism mon-fri and it wasn’t optional.