Seniors to protest Romney in N.H.

By Shira Schoenberg, Globe Correspondent

A group of senior citizens is planning to protest Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tomorrow when he visits a senior center in Lebanon, N.H., for a town hall meeting.

Terry Lochhead, an organizer for the New Hampshire Alliance for Retired Americans, said seniors are worried that Republican candidates including Romney are looking at entitlement reform as a way to reduce the deficit.

“All of their plans to reduce the deficit by cutting programs that benefit retirees, instead of raising taxes on the super-wealthy or cutting out corporate loopholes, have really brought them right into our focus,” said Lochhead, whose group is organizing the protest.

The Alliance also organized about a dozen protesters at a recent event in New Hampshire with Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Romney has talked about making Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security “fiscally sustainable.”

Romney has advocated giving states block grants of Medicaid money, then allowing states to create their own health care programs for the poor. He wrote in his book “No Apology” that he would consider letting people opt out of Medicaid and giving them equivalent vouchers to buy their own insurance.

Romney has praised the budget plan set forth by US Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, which would replace Medicare with vouchers for seniors to buy private health insurance.

On Social Security, Romney wrote in his book that he would be open to raising the retirement age and changing the way benefits are calculated for wealthier Americans by tying them to the consumer price index. He has also said he would allow people to invest part of their Social Security money in personal retirement accounts.

Lochhead said many low-income seniors rely on federal programs as their main source of income, and the group opposes plans like Romney’s that would let seniors put part of their Social Security income in the market. The group also opposes Ryan’s plan.

“You would find seniors increasingly unable to afford their retirement health insurance,” Lochhead said.

The retiree group also opposes Romney’s commitment to repealing President Obama’s health care reforms.

Lochhead said more protests could be planned for the future.

“Anybody who has the potential to get elected and do harm to retirees is a potential target,” she said.

In addition to the senior center town hall meeting, Romney will be holding a town hall meeting in Keene and a business roundtable in Claremont tomorrow.