Mitt Romney speaks to the NAACP convention in Houston. (Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's new promise to restore the Medicare cuts made by President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law could backfire if he's elected.
Budget experts say Obama's cuts to hospitals, insurers and other providers also extended the life of Medicare's giant trust fund.
By repealing them, Romney would move the insolvency date of the program closer, toward the end of what would be his first term in office.
That could leave a President Romney little political breathing room to finalize his own Medicare plan.
The Romney campaign says it's absurd to suggest that restoring the Medicare cuts would hasten bankruptcy.
But Obama's cuts were not directly aimed at Medicare beneficiaries. Simply undoing them would restore higher payments to service providers. And Medicare would spend money faster.
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