Give Us Liberty

Paul Ryan: Obamacare Will Raise Medical Costs

By: Dave Eberhart

If the Democrat-backed healthcare bills are signed into law, medical care in the United States is going to skyrocket along with the deficit, says Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the ranking member on the House Budget Committee.

“What the Democrats are doing is taking a half-trillion dollars out of Medicare from today's seniors, and they're not using it to shore up Medicare, they are using it as a piggy bank to create a whole new government program — new entitlement program."

"What I am saying is, look, if you like this current tax code with all the bells and whistles loopholes and complexity that’s your choice," Ryan said. "But if you want a very simple flat tax system that literally fits on a postcard — 10 percent on the first hundred thousand dollars for families, 25 percent above that; generous family and personal exemptions and that's about it.

"The government would get its traditional amount under the plan, which also gets the IRS out of your affairs to give you a very simple system."

Tax reform, entitlement reform, spending cuts are actually going to help our economy — showing the world in the credit markets we are going to get our debt under control, spending under control, and releasing the entrepreneur — releasing the genius of America the risk taker the innovator by not taxing them so much is what’s going to get our economy growing again making us more competitive.

“We won't be able to pass an agenda like that with the people running Washington right now,” he concludes.

Regarding the midterm elections in November, Ryan said, “I think there is a very realistic chance [for Republicans] to retake the House. I've never seen anything like this. I represent a swing district in Wisconsin, and I've never seen a public uprising like this ever before; it's great to see. You know, we have a founding principle in this country which is we want government by consent of the governed.

“You've seen this healthcare generally run through when the public clearly is out of favor of it," he said. "I really believe this is not a fleeting moment but a building moment.”