Joshua Gordon, the Concord Coalition’s policy director, questions using the term “benefit cut” to describe some of the changes that could occur.

“You could be a 65-year-old senior in South Florida who is healthy and getting a free gym membership and you could lose that free gym membership,” he said. “We do not consider that a benefit cut.”

While it’s unclear whether the savings will lead to benefit cuts, the 2012 Ryan budget proposal, issued in 2011, “clearly was a cut to benefits in Medicare,” Gordon said. “The initial cut with Democrats happens to providers, and the initial cut with Republicans happens to beneficiaries,” he said.