Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said on Monday's The Ed Show that cuts to Medicaid would mean a "death sentence for a whole lot of people all over this country."
"Let's be very clear, a lot of people don't understand this," he said, "This year alone, we're going to be losing 45,000 people who die because they don't get to a doctor when they should. If Medicaid is significantly cut, that number will increase significantly."
Sanders also pushed back against Republicans who claim that the $700 billion being reallocated from Medicare was "robbed" from seniors. Romney made the claim on Sunday—the same day that RNC Chair Reince Priebus accused Obama of having "blood on his hands" for that very reason.
Senator Sanders explained that the Affordable Care Act did not cut benefits for seniors but instead made how those benefits are dispersed "more efficient." Earlier on Monday, Lean Forward reported that the $700 billion came out of payments to "some hospitals, private insurers, and on prescription drugs as a way to control costs on the country's burgeoning health care bill."
Of Ryan's Medicare plan, Sanders said, "Everyone understands that they are destroying Medicare as it is currently constituted."