Sebelius: Under Ryan plan, Medicare guarantee 'gone'

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius continued to attack GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan over his Medicare plan on Tuesday.

CNN reported that Sebelius criticized Ryan's proposal while addressing the Ohio delegation at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C.

"There is no question," she said, according to CNN. "It ends Medicare as we know it."

Ryan's plan would partially privatize Medicare, so seniors would choose between the existing program or subsidies to help buy private insurance.

Democrats and other critics say that would spell the end of the traditional Medicare program, and an earlier version of Ryan's proposal would have ended the existing program directly.

"Gone. Done. There would be no more guaranteed benefits for seniors. There would be guaranteed vouchers," Sebelius said at the convention.

Ryan and running mate Mitt Romney have said their plan is the best way to slow out-of-control entitlement spending, though they have also hammered President Obama for Medicare savings that Ryan wanted to preserve.

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