But you still need to rein in medicare. The problem is, due to direct government involvement in payments, there is no market discipline in the sector. That means either it grows until it bankrupts the country or Obama gets his death panels, benefits are cut arbitrarily to control costs, and doctors become fast food entrepreneurs.
What Ryan is proposing is very modest, hardly a cut at all. He wants to turn into Medicare into a system like that currently enjoyed by members of Congress. You would get an allowance you could use to procure your health insurance from a wide variety of minimally regulated suppliers. That would introduce an element of competition back into the industry and hopefully stop the uncontrolled cost escalation.