THE VILLAGES, Fla. — Paul D. Ryan wove a story of generational obligation on Saturday to make the case for his controversial Medicare plan and personalize an issue that has the potential to be one of Mr. Ryan’s biggest liabilities in joining the Republican ticket.
Mr. Ryan, 42, described how he and his mother, Betty Ryan Douglas, were the primary caregivers for a grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease who moved into the house when he was a teenager.
“You learn a lot about life,” he said. “Medicare was there for my family, for my grandma, when we needed it. And Medicare is there for my mom when she needs it now, and we have to keep that guarantee.”
To save Medicare for current and future retirees, he added, “you have to reform it for my generation, so it doesn’t go bankrupt when we want to retire.”
After several days in which Mr. Ryan mentioned only generalities on the stump, the Romney-Ryan campaign has sought to play offense on Medicare, a traditional vulnerability for Republicans.
Mr. Ryan accused Mr. Obama of being the bigger threat to the program because of savings wrung from the growth of spending in the program contained in the president’s health law of 2010. The savings — or cuts, in the eyes of Mr. Ryan — are used to help pay for health care for the currently uninsured.
“The president raids $716 billion from the Medicare program to pay for the Obamacare program,” Mr. Ryan said, to boos from the crowd. “One out of six or our hospitals and nursing homes will go out of business as a result of this,” he added. “Four million seniors are predicted to lose their Medicare Advantaged plans.”
He also attacked a 15-person board the health law establishes to control costs as a form of rationing.
Left unsaid was that his own budget plan passed by the House in March includes the same $716 billion in savings, to be used to reduce the deficit.
Campaigning in a battleground state where 22 percent of voters in the 2008 presidential election were seniors, Mr. Ryan sought to counter President Obama’s charge that Republicans would “end Medicare as we know it” by moving to a voucher program, which would eventually cost retirees more.
“Congressman Ryan didn’t tell seniors in Florida today that if he had his way, seniors would face higher Medicare premiums and prescription drug costs, and would be forced to pay out of pocket for preventive care,” Danny Kanner, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said in a statement.
Having Mr. Ryan take the fight on Medicare to Florida, a crucial battleground state that Mr. Obama won in 2008, represented an effort by the Romney campaign to turn what many strategists predicted would be the ticket’s Achilles’ heel — Mr. Ryan’s detailed and aggressive budget cuts — into an asset.
President Obama, campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday, zeroed in on the twofer of Mr. Ryan’s budget proposals and Mr. Romney’s tax returns — two days after Mr. Romney disclosed he paid around 13 percent in taxes over the past 10 years.
“He put forward a plan that would let Governor Romney pay less than one percent in taxes a year,” Mr. Obama said of Mr. Ryan, to jeers from the crowd. “And here’s the kicker: he expects you to pick up the tab!”
He termed the Romney-Ryan budget proposals “snake oil” — an apparent downgrade for the phrase he was using earlier this week in Iowa to describe the Republican economic proposals, “fairy dust.”
“They’ve been trying to sell this trickle-down snake oil before,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Romney, who has said he would sign the House budget as president, seemed to back away from the commitment this week when he emphasized that he would restore the Medicare cuts incorporated in the plan.
Mr. Ryan has appeared to be on both sides of the issue — voting for the cuts in his budget in March, then voting to repeal the health care law — but on Wednesday, Mr. Romney made clear that his running mate supported his own position. “Congressman Ryan has joined my campaign, and his campaign is my campaign now, and we’re on exactly the same page,” Mr. Romney said in an interview with CBS.
The $716 billion in cuts (or savings) come from reducing payments to providers over the next decade in an effort to control costs. They include lower payments to hospitals and nursing homes, and to Medicare Advantage.
The Romney campaign argued that lower payments would lead to fewer services. “In an imaginary world where government simply controls everything and everyone, this might sound like an effective way to control cost,” Lanhee Chen, Mr. Romney’s policy director, wrote in a memo distributed on Saturday. “In the real world, the result will be fewer providers accepting Medicare payments, and worse care for today’s seniors.”
Mr. Ryan emphasized that his plan, incorporated into the House budget, would not begin until people who are younger than 54 today become eligible for Medicare.
“Our solution to preserve, protect and save Medicare does not affect your benefits. Let me repeat that,” he said to a crowd here at a sprawling retirement community that, by some measures, contains the highest concentration of Medicare recipients in the nation.
After introducing his mother, Mr. Ryan said “she planned her retirement around this promise” of Medicare. “That’s a promise we have to keep.”
Trip Gabriel reported from The Villages, Fla., and Helene Cooper from Windham, N.H.
Mr. Ryan, 42, described how he and his mother, Betty Ryan Douglas, were the primary caregivers for a grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease who moved into the house when he was a teenager.
“You learn a lot about life,” he said. “Medicare was there for my family, for my grandma, when we needed it. And Medicare is there for my mom when she needs it now, and we have to keep that guarantee.”
To save Medicare for current and future retirees, he added, “you have to reform it for my generation, so it doesn’t go bankrupt when we want to retire.”
After several days in which Mr. Ryan mentioned only generalities on the stump, the Romney-Ryan campaign has sought to play offense on Medicare, a traditional vulnerability for Republicans.
Mr. Ryan accused Mr. Obama of being the bigger threat to the program because of savings wrung from the growth of spending in the program contained in the president’s health law of 2010. The savings — or cuts, in the eyes of Mr. Ryan — are used to help pay for health care for the currently uninsured.
“The president raids $716 billion from the Medicare program to pay for the Obamacare program,” Mr. Ryan said, to boos from the crowd. “One out of six or our hospitals and nursing homes will go out of business as a result of this,” he added. “Four million seniors are predicted to lose their Medicare Advantaged plans.”
He also attacked a 15-person board the health law establishes to control costs as a form of rationing.
Left unsaid was that his own budget plan passed by the House in March includes the same $716 billion in savings, to be used to reduce the deficit.
Campaigning in a battleground state where 22 percent of voters in the 2008 presidential election were seniors, Mr. Ryan sought to counter President Obama’s charge that Republicans would “end Medicare as we know it” by moving to a voucher program, which would eventually cost retirees more.
“Congressman Ryan didn’t tell seniors in Florida today that if he had his way, seniors would face higher Medicare premiums and prescription drug costs, and would be forced to pay out of pocket for preventive care,” Danny Kanner, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said in a statement.
Having Mr. Ryan take the fight on Medicare to Florida, a crucial battleground state that Mr. Obama won in 2008, represented an effort by the Romney campaign to turn what many strategists predicted would be the ticket’s Achilles’ heel — Mr. Ryan’s detailed and aggressive budget cuts — into an asset.
President Obama, campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday, zeroed in on the twofer of Mr. Ryan’s budget proposals and Mr. Romney’s tax returns — two days after Mr. Romney disclosed he paid around 13 percent in taxes over the past 10 years.
“He put forward a plan that would let Governor Romney pay less than one percent in taxes a year,” Mr. Obama said of Mr. Ryan, to jeers from the crowd. “And here’s the kicker: he expects you to pick up the tab!”
He termed the Romney-Ryan budget proposals “snake oil” — an apparent downgrade for the phrase he was using earlier this week in Iowa to describe the Republican economic proposals, “fairy dust.”
“They’ve been trying to sell this trickle-down snake oil before,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Romney, who has said he would sign the House budget as president, seemed to back away from the commitment this week when he emphasized that he would restore the Medicare cuts incorporated in the plan.
Mr. Ryan has appeared to be on both sides of the issue — voting for the cuts in his budget in March, then voting to repeal the health care law — but on Wednesday, Mr. Romney made clear that his running mate supported his own position. “Congressman Ryan has joined my campaign, and his campaign is my campaign now, and we’re on exactly the same page,” Mr. Romney said in an interview with CBS.
The $716 billion in cuts (or savings) come from reducing payments to providers over the next decade in an effort to control costs. They include lower payments to hospitals and nursing homes, and to Medicare Advantage.
The Romney campaign argued that lower payments would lead to fewer services. “In an imaginary world where government simply controls everything and everyone, this might sound like an effective way to control cost,” Lanhee Chen, Mr. Romney’s policy director, wrote in a memo distributed on Saturday. “In the real world, the result will be fewer providers accepting Medicare payments, and worse care for today’s seniors.”
Mr. Ryan emphasized that his plan, incorporated into the House budget, would not begin until people who are younger than 54 today become eligible for Medicare.
“Our solution to preserve, protect and save Medicare does not affect your benefits. Let me repeat that,” he said to a crowd here at a sprawling retirement community that, by some measures, contains the highest concentration of Medicare recipients in the nation.
After introducing his mother, Mr. Ryan said “she planned her retirement around this promise” of Medicare. “That’s a promise we have to keep.”
Trip Gabriel reported from The Villages, Fla., and Helene Cooper from Windham, N.H.