March 20th, 2012

Soledad O’Brien asks Rep. Chaffetz if his view on Medicare is in line with national polling

CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien presses Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) on polling that says the majority of Americans do not want Medicare to change. Chaffetz also answers questions on the new GOP budget that will be unveiled today and Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) trailer.

O’Brien asks, “When they polled all Americans across the board, 70 percent said keep Medicare the way it is…. Do you run the risk of going against what the American people want and ergo that translates into losing elections down the road?”

Chaffetz responds, “Well, I think what they’re saying is we actually like the program, we want the program, and in order to save the program, we got to reform the program. That’s what we’re trying to say and not just on Medicare, but also doing some things with block granting to Medicaid for the states to give them some flexibility. We have to address Social Security at some point. I’ve introduced my own individual plans, not part of this budget, again, in order to save the plan. I think that’s ultimately when people digest that, they’ll understand that we’re trying to be the adults in the room and trying to do the responsible thing in order to save these programs.”

O’Brien adds, “Yes, but you’re saying in order to save the program, you’re going to have to reform the program. You look back at that poll, what they asked people literally, do you like it the way it is or do you want change? They were given sort of the you could change it and they did not go for the change option.”

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs week morning from 7-9am ET on CNN.