President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney had at it out over health care Wednesday night providing some of the toughest, and wonkiest, moments of the night. <\/p>\n
Both candidates also showed they had done their research, citing studies to back their claims about Obama's health care law and how the other would cut Medicare spending but they both managed to stretch the truth. <\/p>\n
Here are the highlights of their claims in Wednesday nights debate: <\/p>\n
Romney claim: On Medicare, for current retirees, hes cutting $716 billion from the program. <\/p>\n
Misleading. If Romney had worded his statement more narrowly for example, by saying only that Obama is cutting Medicare spending by $716 billion it would have been true. That is the amount of spending the health reform law will save by reducing payments to Medicare providers and private Medicare Advantage plans. But Romney said it in a way that suggests that the cuts will come out of current retirees pockets, by slicing their benefits, and that framing stretches the truth. <\/p>\n
Obama claim: The Republican Medicare plan would cost the average senior about $6,000 a year. <\/p>\n
Questionable. Obama covered himself by pointing out that this estimate applied to Paul Ryans original Medicare plan. At the time, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, estimated that the plan would shift nearly $6,400 in costs to seniors. But that plan had a hard limit on how much could be spent on Medicare each year and Romneys campaign insists that his plan has no such limit. <\/p>\n
Obama doesnt buy Romneys argument that competition among private plans alone will bring down costs. He argued that Medicare has lower administrative costs than private insurance does, and that if you are going to save any money through what Gov. Romney's proposing is that the money has to come from somewhere. But he did acknowledge that Romneys plan is different from the Ryan plan and that in fairness, what Gov. Romney has now said is he'll maintain traditional Medicare alongside it. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Analyzing health-care statements<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney had at it out over health care Wednesday night providing some of the toughest, and wonkiest, moments of the night. Continue reading