Republicans Seek Medicare Phase-Out

A Republican proposal to revamp the U.S. public health system in the 2012 fiscal year budget will include a phase-out of Medicare and would replace it by providing subsidies for private health insurance.

Those over 55 years of age would not be affected by the changes. The changes are part of a plan to reduce the government's deficits.

Medicare itself, literally, crowds out all other government spending at the end of the day, said Paul Ryan, the House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman on Fox News Sunday. We can't sustain that. We have got to get Medicare solvent.

President Barack Obama made his proposal for the 2012 budget in mid-February. At the time, Obama was criticized by Republican lawmakers for not including a proposal for reforming entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Ryan's proposal aims to cut more than $4 trillion in deficits over the next decade. In contrast, Obama's proposal cut $1.1 trillion in deficits over the same period.

Obama said his budget proposal was a down payment on dealing with the nation's fiscal problems and a broader discussion among Washington lawmakers was needed to address challenges caused by entitlements.