Ryan to challenge Obama on Medicare at AARP

Republican vice presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), speaks during a campaign rally at Christopher Newport University September 18, 2012 in Newport News, Virginia.

/ Alex Wong/Getty Images

(CBS News) Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, whose plans for Medicare are under attack by President Obama and other Democrats, will promise an honest conversation on entitlements in a speech at an AARP conference Friday in New Orleans, just after Obama addresses the group by satellite.

"You're right to worry that years of empty promises by both political parties are threatening the security of your golden years. And you're right to demand honest answers from those asking for your vote. Mitt Romney and I share your concerns," Ryan will tell the say, according to excerpts of his speech. "And we respect you enough to level with you. We respect all the people of this country enough to talk about the clear choices we face on Medicare, Social Security, the economy, and the kind of country our children will inherit."

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll this week found the public prefers Obama's approach to Medicare over the Romney's, 47 percent to 37 percent. Ryan will try to cast doubt on the administration's handling of Medicare, according to the speech excerpts. He used a similar strategy during his first vice presidential speech on Medicare, a rally in front of several thousand seniors in one of Florida's largest retirement communities, The Villages.

To underscore the emotional appeal of his argument, he will be accompanied at AARP by his 78-year-old mother, Betty Douglas - who also appeared with him at The Villages.

The congressman's address will revolve around the charge - rated "mostly false" by Politifact -- that the president cut $716 billion from the Medicare program to help pay for the Affordable Care Act. Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, included the same cuts in his own budget proposal, but he now accepts Romney's plan to repeal them.

"They want to take responsibility for these cuts out of the hands of your elected representatives and give it to unelected bureaucrats. They want to let them make the decisions - and let them take the heat," Ryan will say about the cuts, referring to the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a panel of experts tasked with recommending to Congress ways to slow the cost growth of Medicare. He will cite the Medicare Chief Actuary as saying that the cuts, which will reduce payments to providers in order to save costs, will "jeopardize access to care for beneficiaries," according to the speech excerpts.

Ryan will tell the audience that the plan he and Romney are offering, which involves giving seniors a set amount of money (Democrats call it a voucher) to purchase private coverage or traditional Medicare, will "empower future seniors" and force the market to compete for their business. "This financial support system is designed to guarantee that seniors can always afford Medicare coverage - no exceptions. And if a senior wants to choose the traditional Medicare plan, then she will have that right," he will say. Ryan's plan makes no changes to the program for Americans 55 and older.

The Obama campaign on Thursday released a Medicare-focused TV ad scheduled to start running Friday in Colorado, Florida and Iowa. The ad warns seniors that their premiums could go up as much as $6,400 a year under the Romney-Ryan plan. Politifact deemed the claim only partially truthful because the figure was based on an analysis of Ryan's 2011 plan. His current plan, which has not been analyzed, includes adjustments meant to avert or lessen such out-of-pocket costs.

[WHAT-IS-HE-SMOKING]

Will Ryan's mother say to everyone "Stop it, this is hard"?

[greco99-2009]

Ryan's going to lose his congressional seat as well.

No surprise, he is one of the most ineffective members of congress, with only two pork laden bills to his name (renaming a local post office and ending some petty ta on bow hunters).

This guy is the king of sayign one thing while doing another. Recently he said his boss, Mitt, was 'obviously inarticulate'. Even Ryan is trying to distance himself from Romney. What a low life creep.

[woodsrocks]

Hiding behind mommy's skirts again?

[vet97]

Can't believe Ryan is using his mother for political purposes...what mother wouldn't help their son in this situation???...Ryan is going to need more than Mom to pull this one off...this is right out of PT Barnum's book!

[Filmguy870]

Lyin' Ryan's gonna be cryin'!!

[no1blonde]

Better have your big boy pants on Ryan and not the Dorothy from Oz checked shirt. Oh, and I can't wait to see how you see things differently and you are not a liar.

[sjc_1]

They want to convince the AARP group that if you are over 55 is will not affect YOU. They don't understand that some people actually care about their kids and grand kids.

[omnibus66]

So the fox is going to go to the poultry convention to convince them that leaving the coop open at night is a good idea. Lots of luck Reynard.

[86obama]

While Romney/Ryan presents a case of why Medicare and other entitlements need to be changed to make them sustainable in the futture, remember they don't propse any chnages for those that are 55 or older. How do you read the Obamacare Payment Advisory Board's function? It means that they will pay only so much for a procedure or it won't be done. And for many of the doctor's out there, they'l; say, fine, we won't do it. That's a heck of a way to control costs. And there are other provisions in Obabmacare that ensures that only cost-effective expenditures are made, icluding deciding whether it's wothwhile for someone to receive a particular medical procedure. That's the government making a decision on whether someone lives or dies, not the individual making that decision with his physician. That's in Obamacare and where the "death panel" term comes from.

I'm old enough to get Medicare and Social Security in a few years, so I want them to be available so I can get the procedures I may need. But what will make them sustainable in the long term? I'm not so self-centered that I don't think of it's availability to my grandkids. Where is the population base that is going to pay for it? It has to change, or we will end up like Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal.

The above is not a GOP slant or Democratic slant...it's honesty.

[woodsrocks]

INsurance companies have always made decisions on what procedures are covered and how much they will reimburse. The difference is, insurance companies are motivated by maximizing profits for their shareholders and bonuses for their executives.

[sjc_1]

Get rid of the payroll tax cap and then net worth and income test SS and Medicare. People over $10 million in net worth with incomes over $100,000 per year should NOT get SS nor Medicare. They can provide for themselves.

[rtyurty]

[We respect all the people of this country enough to talk about the clear choices we face on Medicare, Social Security, the economy, and the kind of country our children will inherit.]

It is refreshing to read those choices are so clear, so suddenly.

I smell the BS fountain being primed.

[skeezix06]

""We will never have the elite, smart people on our side"
Ryan apparently at Value Voters Summit, September 15, 2012

And then there's all those little gems Romney spoke at his exclusive and exclusionary $50,000 a plate get together. "Sharp-tongued women" (I guess he prefers women who are either obsequious or silent), "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what", "95 percent of life is set up for you if you're born in this country"... Just a few examples.

[sjc_1]

Maybe Mutt should not try to get TOO specific, every time he does he shoots himself in the foot, then reloads and shoots his other foot...several times.

[KYAccountant]

Obama did cut $716B from medicare to pay for Obamacare. Obama says its not a cut of actual dollars but will be saved by cutting waste. Problem is Obama counts that "waste-savings" as well as the $716B when he was selling Obamacare as costing us nothing. If you try to honestly debate this stuff, America could end up better off; but the partisan comments acting like 2 yr olds calling people liars without any reference to a lie is not helpful.

[rtyurty]

The interweb can be used to alleviate ignorance as well as exhibit it.

"In fact, the law limits payments to health care providers and insurers to try to reduce the rapid growth of future Medicare spending."
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/aug/29/paul-ryan/paul-ryan-said-president-obama-funneled-716-billio/