first president obama addressed the crowd via satellite, assuring them the programs they paid into will remain in tact. given the conversations that have been out there in the political arena lately, i want to emphasize medicare and social security are not handouts. you ve paid into these programs your whole lives. then it was the republican ticket s turn to speak up. the the romney/ryan campaign offered up the man who vows who end medicare as we know it, the architect behind fundamentally changing the program for generations to come. needless to say, a few of his big ideas were met with boos. the first step to a stronger medicare is to repeal obama care. because it represents the worst of both worlds. [ crowd boos ] i had a feeling there would be mixed reaction so let me get
and when you have somebody like ryan come forward and saying we re going to end medicare as we know it, people were saying what is he doing? medicare is a popular program. it s not perfect but it is saddam good program providing health care to millions and millions of people. they make the case that senator, they make the case that they re trying to save the program. what about that? they re quote unquote saving the program by forcing of course they re not trying to save the program. what they are trying to do is create a voucher program, which will mean that a significant increase in cost will fall on the backs of the average senior citizen. and that s why he gets booed. they know that. you just stop and think for a second, ed. you re 70 years of age. you ve been diagnosed with cancer and they give you an $8,000 check to walk into a private insurance company. what do you think that private insurance company, whose function in life is to make
about how to save the entitlement programs. patti ann: this is dangerous for politicses, especially in florida. we saw the poll and 48% more afraid of president obama s healthcare law. had 41% more frightened by paul ryan. is this a winning issue for republicans? i m excited about the debate. i m sitting here in south florida. we saw in 2010 when senior voters went to the polls, they voted overwhelmingly in favor of the gop and one of the reasons for that was they became aware and they are aware today that obamacare pulled $700 billion out of the medicare program. so for the gop it s a winning issue because we want to protect the plan for anyone 55 and older. we also have a plan to make sure that medicare is there for people who are 55 and under. on the other hand, the president and democrats have no plan for
vision where we re going to provide the financial solvency for the program. i d like to see democrats talk about bowles simpson and try to find structural debt reform that deals with both the defense spending, responsible defense cuts, and also entitlement reforms so we can get small business going and lift the burden. i also think the idea that republicans are against the obamacare program which tells free loaders stop going to the hospital and making other people pay for your health care, well, unleashing the potential of small businesses strangled by rising health care costs seems backward to me. they say it s going to be an pontie debate and florida is a microcosm of it. patti ann: president obama said that the ryan plan makes seniors pay more so that they can give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires. how do you respond to that? well, i think that one thing president obama left out was that it protects seniors who are 55 and older. i wish that he would put that into his s
medicare when it goes bankrupt in 12 years. yet, we also have the president pulling $700 billion out of current beneficiaries right now. the program right now. so it s a winning issue for republicans and i think this election of paul ryan will be seen as a game changing event in this presidential election. patti ann: josh, let s respond to some of those points that justin just made. the ryan plan not affecting anyone over age 55 right now examine also republicans hammering that point of president obama taking $700 billion out of medicare to pay for his healthcare plan. he says that is savings, it s eliminating waste, it s not cuts. what say you? i think this charge from the republicans that the president is getting medicare and medicaid is nonsense. but i agree that the republicans are out there with a plan and they re very forward and aggressive in saying we re going to fulfill the promises that we made to the generation retiring now and we re going to try to reform the program so