Paul Ryan's Medicare plan could become a major talking point in the presidential election. (Creative Commons/Wikipedia)

Senior advisors to the Obama and Romney campaign both took to the airwaves to debate what Ryan’s plan to redesign Medicare means for the Romney campaign going forward.

David Axelrod, senior advisor to the Obama campaign, said that Romney’s pick was a “clarifying choice” for the American people, USA Today reported.

USA Today:

"He's the guy who's the architect of a plan to end Medicare as we know it and turn it into a voucher program and ship thousands of dollars of costs onto senior citizens."

Already an Obama campaign ad is out that criticizes Ryan's budget plan for being tough on older voters and students, Politico reported.

On NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, fired back at accusations  against Ryan, saying that Ryan’s plan was far preferable to what President Obama had done and will do to Medicare.   

NBC reported that Priebus said:

“If any person in this entire debate has blood on their hands in regard to Medicare, it’s Barack Obama. He’s the one who is destroying Medicare; we are the ones that are offering solutions to preserve Medicare benefits for people who are at or near retirement age and to make the program fiscally sustainable for future taxpayers."

In the past, Ryan has said that he believes that only a drastic change can reform the Medicare system.

From Think Progress:

"Ryan himself has argued repeatedly that major changes are the only way to save Medicare, that if the cost curve isn’t bent dramatically, Medicare will drive the United States to insolvency, endangering the entitlement altogether."

Ryan has made it a point to stress that Medicare cannot be allowed to continue in its current state said ABC News.

ABC News reported that Ryan said:

"The future of the nation's health and retirement security programs is increasingly based on empty promises from a government unwilling to advance solutions that save and strengthen them."

Romney’s selection of Ryan will change the talking points for this election, NBC reported.

“In selecting Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney has also made the fight over the future of Medicare a focal point of the election, raising opportunities and challenges for both parties, particularly in battleground states such as Florida.”

Still, due to the lack of popularity from the original Ryan Medicare Plan, NBC reported that there will be changes to that plan and even Ryan has “backed away significantly” from the goal of phasing out Medicare. 

For its part, the Romney campaign has made it clear that while it will stand behind Ryan, there will be some differences between the original budget plan and initiated by Ryan and what Romney’s own budget plan will be, CNN reported.

From CNN:

"Gov. Romney applauds Paul Ryan for going in the right direction with his budget," the campaign said, "and as president he will be putting together his own plan for cutting the deficit and putting the budget on a path to balance."

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