James Capretta writes:

[W]hat is it about the [Paul] Ryan plan that liberals find so appalling and unacceptable? Well, according to the president’s speech — and columns by Alan Blinder, Paul Krugman, and Ezra Klein — it’s the fact that the Medicare “premium-support credits” could be used only for private insurance, and that the credits themselves would be indexed on an annual basis to consumer inflation, not health costs. They argue that, as the years go by, the credits will fall farther behind the actual cost of insurance, and leave seniors with larger and larger premium bills.

But, wait a second, there’s something vaguely familiar about how the Ryan Medicare plan is supposed to work. Inflation-indexed credits. Competing private insurance plans. Government oversight of the marketplace. Oh yeah: That’s the description of Obamacare that advocates have been peddling for months.

Read more: Obamacare’s Cruel and Inhumane Inflation-Indexed Vouchers.

For a good critique of Paul Ryan’s budget plan, check out the NPR piece (!) that summarizes Reason.com editor Nick Gillespie’s article, ‘Paul Ryan’s Budget Plan: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.

Also check out this primer on free-market Medicare reform.