On Sunday, Romney adviser Ed Gillespie responded to a Romney/Ryan campaign memo that they would repeal the ACA and pursue additional spending of about $700 billion. As Gillespie put it:
There are other reforms as well. As you know Governor Romney supports increasing over time bringing the Medicare eligibility age in line with the Social Security retirement age.
But, as TPM writer Brian Beutler argues, raising the Medicare eligibility age is a serious benefit cut. And with additional spending, how will Romney be able to stave off an increasing deficit and cut federal spending, as he’s promised? Even if you grant the (wrong-headed) premise that a cut in federal spending would boost employment, Romney’s plan won’t even do that. What it will actually do is undermine the ACA’s long-term efforts to curb over-payments to insurers participating in Medicare advantage.
