The claim that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget would end Medicare is the “lie of the year,” according to the fact-checking website Politifact.
According to Politifact’s analysis, saying the Ryan plan “ends Medicare” overlooks the fact that its changes would not affect people 55 and older. Politifact also said Medicare would remain in existence, but in a different form — which Ryan’s critics say is the same thing as ending Medicare.
Democrats and liberals slammed the decision and stood by the contention that Ryan’s proposal would end Medicare.
“It seems foolish to have to parse the meaning of the word ‘end,’ but if there’s a program, and it’s replaced with a different program, proponents brought an end to the original program,” liberal blogger Steve Benen wrote at Washington Monthly. “That’s what the verb means.”
Under Ryan’s plan, the existing Medicare program would be replaced with a system in which the federal government provides seniors with subsidies to buy private insurance...
