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Several of the candidates, notably Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called for changes that would put Social Security and Medicare on sounder ground by increasing retirement ages, decreasing benefits for higher-income retirees or changing the formula used to calculate living-cost adjustments. Mr. Paul said Medicare was paying out around 2.5 times more per person than it had collected, raising an important point about demographics. “We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families,” he said. Messrs. Bush and Christie have both made the case that Social Security will need to be reoriented towards a program that offers a more progressive payment structure. “The simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don’t receive the same benefits as the people that are lower-income,” Mr. Bush said. (Timiraos, 10/29)

Ben Carson’s rise to Republican presidential front-runner has come without serious scrutiny of his domestic policy proposals. But his high-flying campaign has hit some turbulence since he began discussing his desire to replace the Affordable Care Act with a health care system that offers all Americans a government-funded health savings account. (Pugh, 10/29)