Week ahead: Ryan readies new Medicare plan

{mosads}House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is planning to unveil his latest budget proposal, which will include proposed changes to Medicare benefits, early in the week.

Ryan has proposed partially privatizing Medicare in the past by offering a private subsidy option to seniors under the age of 55. For this year’s budget, he has floated changing the cut-off age to 56, angering some Republican centrists who campaigned for reelection promising not to touch Medicare for people 55 and over.

Regardless of the cut-off age, the Ryan budget is sure to touch off a partisan battle. Democrats have consistently assailed the budget as “the end of Medicare as we know it,” while Ryan has countered that he’s the only one with a real plan to save the program from insolvency. 

The GOP chairman’s past budgets have also called for repealing the Affordable Care Act, which could provide an outlet for conservative lawmakers frustrated that the repeal effort has faded dramatically in the 113th Congress. 

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have threatened to delay the Senate’s bill to fund the government — which could hit the floor this week — unless a provision is added to defund the healthcare law. But the GOP-controlled House steered clear of repeal efforts in its continuing resolution.

Repeal aside, Republicans will keep up their oversight of the healthcare law this week. The Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health subcommittee is holding a hearing Wednesday on the law’s effect on hiring and jobs.

On Thursday, a Ways and Means Committee panel will hold a hearing on Social Security’s program for disability insurance. Ways and Means will also hold a hearing Friday on the annual report from Congress’s Medicare payment advisory committee, known as MedPAC. 

Off Capitol Hill, the Heritage Foundation will hold an event Monday making the case that the Affordable Care Act is hurting the economy. On Tuesday, the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network will begin its conference featuring Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas).

America’s Health Insurance Plans is organizing three conferences this week — one on dual-eligible beneficiaries; another on exchanges; and its two-day policy forum.