Romney signals support for more Medicare choices

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney says that he and running mate Paul Ryan have talked about providing people more Medicare choices and making sure the program doesn’t change for current seniors or those nearing retirement.

Ryan says to preserve benefits for younger people, Medicare must be reformed. He says proposed reforms have bipartisan origins.

The candidates made the comments to Bob Schieffer of “60 Minutes” on CBS.

Ryan’s Medicare blueprint hinges on steering future retirees into private insurance plans, with a fixed payment from the government that may or may not cover as much of a retiree’s costs as does the current program.

Romney has singled out Ryan’s work “to make sure we can save Medicare.” But Romney has never said whether he embraced that plan himself.