DAVENPORT, Iowa (CNN) - Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson proposed a "house calls" medical plan Thursday that would allow senior citizens to get health care at home they now can only get at the hospital.
The New Mexico governor unveiled the plan, called "Independence at Home," at the Divided We Fail/AARP/Iowa Public Television presidential candidate forum on health and financial security. He said it could save $13 to $16 billion a year by reducing emergency room visits and hospital admissions.
"Through electronic technology, they can get their care at home," Richardson said. "They can do it instead of having 13 doctors and having to go to the hospital the healthcare would come to them at home."
Richardson spokesman Tom Reynolds said the program would be entirely voluntary and would fall under Medicare, at no additional cost to the system.
-CNN Iowa Producer Chris Welch