From Rand Paul, talking 15 months ago about problems with Medicare:
Medicare is socialized medicine! People are afraid of that because they’ll say “Ohhh, you’re against Medicare.” No, I’ll say, “We have to do something different. We can’t just eliminate Medicare, but we have to get more to a market-based system.” It’s counter-intuitive to a lot of people, but you have to pay for things if you want prices to come down. So you really need higher deductibles. And the real answer to Medicare would be a $2,000 deductible, but try selling that one in an election. But that’s the real answer.
That’s via Steve Benen, who reports that Paul is outraged that his Democratic opponent has highlighted his support for a $2000 deductible, which as you can imagine, is not going down well with Kentucky’s seniors. But the video is here, and it sure doesn’t look like anything is taken out of context. Paul supports the deductible idea but admits that it’s a terrible campaign idea. And of course, now he’s in a campaign. So he no longer wants anyone to know that he said this. And who can blame him?
Want to know more? Check out “Tea and Crackers,” Matt Taibbi’s latest in Rolling Stone. It’s ostensibly about the tea party movement, but about half the piece is actually about Rand Paul. Enjoy.
