• The Congressional Budget Office determined that some of the out-of-pocket costs could double for seniors and that sent up a red flag for me… I think we can do it another way and now I’m going to be curious to see what the Senate does. I want to be an independent voice here.
• GOP Rep. Dave MicKinley • Speaking on Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposed “Path to Prosperity,” which eliminates the traditional Medicare program (essentially, guaranteed health coverage) in favor of a voucher/privatized system. Quotes like these often strike us as noteworthy, specifically because it’s rather rare to hear Republican politicians break ranks around big policy proposals, especially when compared to Democrats. On the Democratic side, whether it’s Joe Manchin, Joe Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Bart Stupak (now retired), the list goes on — the conservative wing of the party last Congress provided a palpable thorn in President Obama’s side on a lot of his big initiatives. The GOP, on the other hand, always seems like an on-message, political machine — so to that end, we laud Rep. McKinley for speaking his mind on the hottest topic in Washington today. source

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