Medicare and Medicaid have frequently been targets for budget cuts over the years.

But U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Budget Committee chairman in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, fired a salvo heard around the country. In a budget proposal his committee dubbed “The Path to Prosperity,” the two federal healthcare programs would face what critics immediately called a complete dismantling. The story begins: “House Republicans have spoken and healthcare providers didn't like what they heard, but on this both sides agreed: The release of the GOP's 2012 budget last week started the conversation on entitlement reform in America.”