Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — Elderly people in Florida would have paid more than $200 extra for traditional Medicare if a system similar to Paul Ryan's proposed overhaul of the program was in place in 2010, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee, wants to transform Medicare into a "premium support" system in which beneficiaries get a fixed payment from the government for their insurance, rather than guaranteed benefits. Such a plan would lead to wide variations in Medicare costs across the country, according to the study today by the nonprofit Kaiser group.

Fifty-nine percent of beneficiaries would have paid more in 2010, unless they switched from traditional Medicare or their current private coverage to a lower-cost plan, the researchers found. In California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada and New York, it would cost more than $100 extra a month to maintain traditional coverage for Medicare.