Rubio To Dems: Don't Use Medicare To Score Points

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) implored Democrats on Friday to come up with a plan of their own to reform Medicare. Failure to do so, he said, might help them at the polls, but won’t help prevent the program from eventually going bankrupt.

“Maybe not offering their own plan to save Medicare will help them win seats in Congress and re-elect President Barack Obama. Maybe it is great for the Democratic Party. But it is terrible for people like my mother, and it is terrible for America,” Rubio wrote in an op-ed for the Miami Herald.

Rubio was one of all but five Republicans who voted Wednesday for a GOP budget plan that proposed transforming Medicare into a private system. The plan was rejected 40-57.

“Rep. Paul Ryan has offered a plan that would make no changes whatsoever for anyone age 55 and older. I support it because, right now, it is the only plan out there that helps save Medicare,” Rubio wrote. “Democrats oppose it. Fine. But, if they have a better way to save Medicare, what are they waiting for to show us? What is their plan to save Medicare?”