On the recordNovember 30, 2012
And that is exactly what we did. Much has been made of the $716 billion that was saved in Medicare. The corporate subsidies was part of it, efficiencies were part of it, but not a dime in benefits was adversely affected. In doing that, we also extended the solvency. Medicare goes broke, was going broke, in 4 years. Now it's 12 years. Under the alternative plan, during the campaign, it would be back to 4 years. So seniors would be paying--seniors on Medicare now would be paying more. Seniors, younger people when they get to Medicare would pay a lot more, and it goes broke quicker. That was what we were fighting. And the President was reelected, and so Medicare will not be attacked. But, again, when you talk about additional Medicare cuts, we're just not cutting in the abstract. Those cuts are necessary because people want to extend the Bush-era tax cuts. If you do not extend the tax cuts, you do not have to discuss any cuts in Medicare. These savings are designed to help pay for tax cuts; and people need to make the choice, recognize the choice. Do you want to cut Medicare in order to preserve some tax cuts? I think a lot of people would say leave Medicare alone.
