LAS VEGAS -- Nevada once again proves to be a key battleground state in November's general election as candidate visits have become a weekly event in Las Vegas.
On Thursday, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida rallied volunteers at the Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip.
This was a sort of homecoming for Rubio. Although he was born in Miami, Rubio spent several of his childhood years in Las Vegas. He told a crowd of hundreds about his parents working at Las Vegas casinos.
But he also told them the fate of Medicare rests with this election.
Rubio stood alongside Nevada Sen. Dean Heller where hundreds of supporters came to see Rubio, a Cuban-American and one of the Senate's youngest members.
Rubio spoke about presumed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and vice presidential running mate Paul Ryan's plan for Medicare.
Instead of exclusive public-funded insurance, the government would give senior citizens and others who are eligible voucher checks to pay for private health insurance.
The plan would take a couple decades to transition from the public sector to private insurers.
"The people who are going to have a different Medicare is me," Rubio said. "I'm 41 years old. When I retire, my Medicare is going to look different than my mom's Medicare looked like. It's still going to be the best thing in the world, but it's going to be different."
President Barack Obama moved $700 billion over several years from Medicare's budget. The money going towards private insurance companies to pay for Medicare Advantage programs are now shifting toward the president's Affordable Care Act.
Rubio labeled that a "cut" to senior citizens' health care.
But the $700 billion would still shift away from Medicare under Ryan's budget proposal.
"Yeah, but there's a difference between taking $700 billion from one part of Medicare and spending it in another part of Medicare and another which is the Obama campaign's idea, which is taking $700 billion out of Medicare and using it to fund an experiment," Rubio said.
Rubio explained what happens should the Republican's proposed voucher checks fall short of paying people's medical expenses.
"The subsidy supports are basically going to be decided based on how much money you make and it will be risk-adjusted," he said. "For everyone it will be different. For people that don't have the means to make up the difference, they won't be expected to make up the difference."
The Affordable Care Act also has a risk adjustment program, so that health insurance companies cannot avoid people who have pre-existing conditions or are in poor health. Medicare already uses risk adjustment.
Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley labeled the Republican proposal the "Heller-Ryan-Romney plan to hand Medicare over to private insurance companies."
Berkley is challenging Heller in the Nevada Senate race.
Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, Republicans, in Summerlin Thursday.
GOP Sens. Dean Heller (left) and Marco Rubio at a campaign stop at the Venetian in Las Vegas,
