Ryan’s Medicare Plan Provides "Pretty Much" the Same Coverage That Members of Congress Receive (PolitiFact.com)

In Sunday’s GOP presidential debate, Sen. Rick Santorum answered a common complaint on the campaign trail by telling voters that Republicans were offering up health benefits on par with those received by members of Congress. Santorum was referring to Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan, proposed earlier this year by Ryan and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). PolitiFact investigates and finds that the plans are indeed similar on several counts, but with one major difference: Congress’s premium costs are protected through a program called “Fair Share,” which stipulates that the government pay for 75 percent of premium costs for all members. The Ryan-Wyden plan is not quite so generous, or so blind to inflation. Rather than keep pace with medical inflation, premium support under Ryan’s plan would be pegged to the consumer price index, which historically lags health care costs.