Obama Ad Attacks Romney for Potential Cuts to Medicaid, Nursing Homes

If Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is successful in his bid for the White House, the nation’s seniors might get kicked out of their nursing homes, suggests a new ad by the Obama Administration which highlights Romney’s record on Medicaid cuts during his tenure as governor of Massachusetts.

Romney’s budget plan cuts Medicaid by one third, according to the 30-second ad, by transforming it into a block grant program.

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For many families a nursing home is the “only choice” for their loved one’s care, the ad says, while Medicaid is the “only way” to afford that care. The cuts would “burden families with the cost of nursing home care,” a narrator intones, but President Obama “won’t let that happen.”

“By giving states greater flexibility and the incentive to provide coverage more efficiently, Governor Romney will ensure that low-income Americans receive the care they need while also bringing federal spending back under control,” said a spokesperson for the Romney campaign in response to the ad.

In another recent campaign ad, the Democratic party ties comments Romney has previously made about voters to his plans to change the Medicare program:

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“Victims. Dependent. That’s what Mitt Romney called forty-seven percent of Americans. Including people on Medicare,” the ad says. “But what about his plan for you? Romney would replace guaranteed benefits with a voucher system. Seniors could pay six thousand dollars more a year. A plan AARP says would undermine Medicare. You’re no victim…you earned your benefits. Don’t let Mitt Romney take them away.”

Written by Alyssa Gerace