Introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R -WI), its objectives include ensuring the permanent solvency of our entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, paying down the national debt, and reforming the tax code to make it more conducive for investors, and encourage saving. Here are its proposals, straight from its
website, as well as a
link to the actual legislation:
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Major Plan Components.Health Care. % Provides a refundable tax credit – $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families – to
purchase coverage in any State, and keep it with them if they move or change jobs.
% Establishes transparency in health care price and quality data, so this critical information
is readily available before someone needs health services.
% Modernizes Medicaid and strengthens the health care safety net by reforming high-risk
pools, giving States maximum flexibility to tailor Medicaid programs to the specific
needs of their populations. Allows Medicaid recipients to take part in the same variety of
options and high-quality care available to everyone through the tax credit option.
Medicare. Transitions the program to allow beneficiaries to choose the most affordable coverage to suit their needs.
% Preserves the existing Medicare program for those 55 or older.
% For those currently under 55 – as they become Medicare-eligible – creates a Medicare
payment of up to $9,500. This payment is adjusted for inflation and based on income,
with low-income individuals receiving greater support. It is also risk-adjusted, so those
with greater medical needs receive a higher payment.
% Establishes and fully funds medical savings accounts [MSAs] for low-income
beneficiaries, while continuing to allow all beneficiaries, regardless of income, to set up
tax-free MSAs.
% Makes Medicare permanently solvent, based on consultation with the Office of the
Actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Social Security.% Preserves the existing Social Security program for those 55 or older.
% Offers workers under 55 the option of investing over one third of their current Social
Security taxes into personal retirement accounts, similar to the Thrift Savings Plan
available to Federal employees. Includes a property right so they can pass on these assets
to their heirs, and a guarantee that total benefits from the personal accounts will not be
less than they would have been under the current system.
% Combined with a more realistic measure of growth in Social Security’s initial benefits
and an eventual modernization of the retirement age, makes the program permanently
solvent, according to the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration [SSA].
Tax Reform.% Provides individual income tax payers a choice of how to pay their taxes – through
existing law, or through a highly simplified code that fits on a postcard with just two rates
and virtually no special tax deductions, credits, or exclusions (except the health care tax
credit).
% Simplified tax rates are 10% on income up to $100,000 for joint filers, and $50,000 for
single filers; and 25% on taxable income above these amounts. Also includes a generous
standard deduction and personal exemption (totaling $39,000 for a family of four).
% Eliminates the alternative minimum tax [AMT].
% Promotes saving by eliminating taxes on interest, capital gains, and dividends; also
eliminates the death tax.
% Replaces the corporate income tax – currently the second highest in the industrialized
world – with a border-adjustable business consumption tax of 8.5%. This new rate is
roughly half that of the rest of the industrialized world.
Poll
