There’s been some confusion surrounding whether or not the restructuring of Medicare that Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is proposing should be considered a voucher, because he keeps insisting it is not.

 The basic idea of his proposal, which would kick in for future Medicare beneficiaries now 55 and under, is to give senior citizens a choice among several subsidized health care plans in order to encourage them to make economical choices that will help control costs. The value of the subsidy would vary, so that poorer and sicker beneficiaries would receive more and richer and healthier beneficiaries would get less.