"Gov. Romney's plan is to repeal Obamacare and replace it with patient-centered reforms that control cost throughout the health care system and extend the solvency of Medicare," said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul.

"He will then implement real entitlement reform that places Medicare on a sustainable long-term footing so that future generations of Americans will not have to worry whether the program will be there for them," she said.

[font size="+1"]Romney has only offered broad outlines of his plan, not yet detailing how it would work or how he would pay for it.[/font]
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Restoring the original, higher Medicare payout rates to providers could accelerate the program's path to bankruptcy, experts say - at least until a Romney plan to convert the program into a fixed-benefit, voucher-style system could be put in place.

Should Romney restore the $716 billion — and unless he institutes other yet to be specified reforms — we would move back to the old system of overpaying private insurers and providers. He’d be re-inserting inefficiency back into the system, jeopardizing the benefits that seniors are currently enjoying, and shrinking the solvency of the Medicare trust fund from 2024 under current law to 2016.

“All of the demonstration and pilot programs aimed at payment and delivery system reform would also be eliminated,” Steve Zuckerman of the Urban Institute told ThinkProgress. “Definitely, the 8 year extension in the life of the Medicare HI trust fund would be gone.”

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The Obamacare savings slow the growth of Medicare over the next decade by, in part: eliminating overpayments to private insurers in Medicare Advantage, reforming provider payments to encourage greater efficiency, tying reimbursements to improvements in economic productivity, and reducing fraud and abuse. The law does not impact patient benefits. CMS offers a partial breakdown: