News

Actions

Both parties express different plans for Medicare

Posted at 10:28 PM, Aug 18, 2012
and last updated 2012-08-18 22:29:01-04

By Drew Levinson

(CBS NEWS) - Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan went to a retirement community in Florida and got some help from his 78-year-old mother.

Ryan promised seniors that a Romney administration would protect them from hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare cuts.  Republicans claim the cuts are a part of President Obama's healthcare reform.

"Medicare should not be used as a piggy bank for Obamacare," Ryan says. "Medicare should be the promise that it made to our current seniors.  Period.  End of story."

Ryan called for a Medicare overhaul, drafting the GOP budget plan that would shift the entitlement to a voucher-like system.  Democrats claim the plan would bankrupt the program.

President Obama broke into a sweat as he spoke to a packed crowd at a New Hampshire high school.

"My plan saves money on Medicare by cracking down on fraud, and waste, and insurance company subsidies.  Their plan makes seniors pay more so they can give another tax cut to millionaires and billionaires."

The President told voters Election Day is about two different approaches to the country's future, and he said the choice is clear.