The first in the nation New Hampshire primary is Tuesday.
During this week’s home stretch, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio gave roughly the same remarks at all his events.
However, at his rally in Derry, New Hampshire Rubio cracked a joke about his home state to bring up an issue.
“You might not know this, this is not well known,” he said. “In Florida there are a lot of people on Social Security and Medicare.”
The crowd laughed at his reference to his home state.
He said his mother is one of the Floridians using these programs.
“I am against any changes to Social Security and Medicare that are bad for my mom,” Rubio said.
He said he would keep Social Security and Medicare the same for anyone retiring in the next 10 years. However, he said there would be changes made for future retirees.
These changes include an increase in the retirement age.
“I’m supposed to retire at 67. Maybe now I have to retire at 68,” he said.
He would also reduce benefits for higher income seniors.
“If I’ve made a lot of money, my Social Security check isn’t going to grow as fast as people that made less,” Rubio explained.
Part of Rubio’s Medicare reform includes a transition to a premium support system.
According to the senator’s website, this system would “give seniors a generous but fixed amount with which to purchase health coverage, either from Medicare or a private provider.”
Rubio said these changes are reasonable and important in order to help prevent a national debt crisis.
Lane Brokaw was at Rubio’s rally and said this is a timely issue for him.
“I’m receiving my very first Social Security check in two weeks at 65,” said Brokaw.
He’s happy Rubio plans to keep things the same for people around his age, but he worries about his younger family members.
“I have two grandchildren and two children and I’m very concerned about the legacy that they will go into,” he said.
Though Brokaw worries about Rubio’s Social Security and Medicare plans for younger generations, he still planned to vote for Rubio on Tuesday.
