U.S. voters see Medicare as a top election issue - poll

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Medicare has become a top healthcare issue in the U.S. presidential election, surpassing the controversy over President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, according to a poll conducted just as Republican Mitt Romney pushed the issue to the forefront of the campaign with his choice of running mate.

On Saturday, Romney announced he had picked Representative Paul Ryan, a lawmaker whose plan to cut billions of dollars from the U.S. deficit included transforming the costly, but popular, healthcare program for the elderly.

The nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation said on Thursday that 73 percent of respondents polled in the days around the announcement described Medicare as “very important” or “extremely important” to their votes. That included large majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans.

The Kaiser foundation said a separate survey conducted a week earlier found that 58 percent of adults - including 55 percent of Republicans - favored keeping Medicare as it is today with all seniors receiving the same insurance benefits.