Ron Johnson supports Paul Ryan’s plan to turn Medicaid into a coupon program

It’s safe to say Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposal to turn Medicaid into a coupon program in which senior citizens would be given a government-issued coupon to help defray a portion of the costs of their health insurance coverage instead of having the guarantee of coverage that Medicaid currently provides is tremendously unpopular. However, despite the unpopularity of Rep. Ryan’s Medicare coupon plan, Wisconsin’s junior Senator, Republican Ron Johnson, told the editorial board of the Appleton Post-Crescent he supports turning Medicare into a coupon program as proposed by Rep. Ryan (emphasis mine):

Johnson ducked specifics about budget cuts he would favor.

He insisted, however, Medicare needs the kind of changes laid out in U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s controversial proposal, and he revisited his campaign theme of repealing the federal health care reform law.

Putting aside Johnson’s support of the Ryan plan to turn Medicare into a coupon program for just a second, I think it’s hilarious that even now that he’s been elected Ron Johnson still can’t provide specifics on what he’d cut from the federal budget.

To get back on point, I’m not surprised by Sen. Johnson’s support for the Ryan plan to turn Medicaid into a coupon program, given the fact that Johnson doesn’t seem to take any issue positions that vary from the official Republican Party line, but Johnson’s support for turning Medicare into a coupon program that forces seniors to try to find health insurance coverage on their own surely won’t win him much popular support among his constituents.