The Takeaway: Mitt Romney Says 'No Thanks' to Medicare

No Medicare for Mitt Romney: The Republican presidential candidate, who turned 65 yesterday,  won't be enrolling in Medicare. Instead, he will keep his private health insurance, an aide said. This is in keeping with views Romney has expressed on the campaign trail. The GOP front-runner has proposed cutting benefits for wealthier seniors so "low-income seniors would receive the most generous benefits."

This proposed change-along with raising the eligibility age for everyone enrolling in Medicare-would not take place until 2022, Romney has said, so as not to affect anyone now receiving or approaching Medicare benefits. At a speech last month in Detroit, Romney said:

Tuesday Quick Hits: 

• Portland doctor Peter Goodwin-who campaigned for Oregon's Death With Dignity Act, an aid-in-dying law that allows terminally ill patients to end their lives with assistance-died March 11 at his home, using lethal chemicals he obtained under the law.

• The latest state-of-Americans'-savings survey is typically dismal. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, about 60 percent of U.S. workers have less than $25,000 in savings and investments.

• A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says the growth in per-patient Medicare costs has slowed, despite earlier projections that it would continue to grow indefinitely. The researchers believe the trend will hold over time, in large part due to Medicare cost-control polices that are part of the 2010 health care reform law.

• Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives is poised to pass legislation repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a Medicare cost-saving board created under the Affordable Care Act.

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images