LITTLE ROCK, Ark (AP) — Sen. John Boozman said Tuesday that a controversial Republican plan to turn Medicare into a voucher-like program for future beneficiaries is helping start the discussion on how to address the popular program's rising costs.
The Arkansas senator said he wasn't worried about a political backlash for Republicans for supporting the proposed Medicare changes, which Democrats have heavily criticized.
Those proposed alterations were included in a House budget plan rejected by the Senate last week. The measure would transform Medicare into a program in which future beneficiaries — people now 54 and younger — would be given a subsidy to purchase health insurance rather than have the government directly pay hospital and doctor bills.
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"We've got real problems with (Medicare)," Boozman told reporters as he opened his Senate office in downtown Little Rock. "It's going to go broke if we don't do something significant and that's all this is about. It's trying to start the discussion as to how we, not cut the program, but save the program."
Boozman, who was elected in November, voted for the budget plan that included the Medicare changes. Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor voted against it, criticizing the plan by Republican Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as "destroying Medicare as we know it."
Democrats highlighted their opposition to the Ryan proposal as they won a House special election in a strongly Republican district in upstate New York last week.
Arkansas' three Republican congressmen have backed the Ryan proposal, and state Democrats have said they plan to remind voters of that support when the three seek re-election next year. Boozman is not up for re-election until 2016.
Boozman suggested that there may be some compromise that could be reached to help contain the costs of Medicare.
"I think the Ryan plan is good. It started the discussion. It's going to take a lot of discussion," Boozman said. "We're not going to privatize Medicare. We're going to have some sort of hybrid that steps in, again, to preserve. Not to cut it, but to preserve it for future generations."
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