Road to Affordable Care Runs Through Medicare Pay Panel

Nothing in the debate over health-care reform is more depressing than the verbal attacks each party lobs against the other for attempting to cut costs.

Republicans denounce President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act for seeking to trim a few percentage points from Medicare spending over the next decade -- out of $5 trillion. In turn, Democrats deride Representative Paul Ryan’s plan, which would create a voucher-like program enabling seniors to shop among competing health plans, for ending Medicare as we know it.