From Our Future
President-elect Donald Trump made a number of promises to his voters. Here is today's post about a promise that he has already broken. This is already becoming a regular series.
Pre-Election Trump: "We Can't Do That"
Donald Trump campaigned on a promise not to cut Social Security or Medicare. Because who would campaign by saying they're going to cut or change those incredibly popular and successful programs?
During the primaries Trump said, "Every Republican wants to do a big number on Social Security, they want to do it on Medicare, they want to do it on Medicaid. And we can't do that. And it's not fair to the people that have been paying in for years."
Variations of his promise were repeated at rallies and in interviews throughout the campaign. The Heritage Foundation's Daily Signal article, "WHY DONALD TRUMP WON'T TOUCH YOUR ENTITLEMENTS" begins...
"'I'm not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I'm not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,' Trump told The Daily Signal. 'Every other Republican is going to cut, and even if they wouldn't, they don't know what to do because they don't know where the money is. I do.'"
Trump made a clear promise to voters.
But The Election Is Over
Now that the election is over, however, things are different. Trump is freed from having to say what voters want to hear. Republicans are talking about privatizing Medicare and replacing it with vouchers to use to purchase private insurance. (In other words, they want to turn it into a program that works the same as the Obamacare they are vowing to eliminate.)
The Republican platform calls for a "premium support" for Medicare, also known as "vouchers." Under this system the government's role is eliminated and people get an "income-adjusted" voucher to use to buy private insurance. ("Privatization.") "Income adjusted" means the guarantee of health care for all goes away. The voucher would not necessarily be enough to actually buy a private policy. (Ironically this is what Obamacare does, which Republicans are insisting on repealing, because this is what Obamacare does.)
This is not new, Republicans have overwhelmingly voted for this again and again, with Obama there to stop them. Now they are reviving the plan. It has been brought up repeatedly in recent days. For example, Talking Points Memo today has one more top Republican advocating it, in the report, Rep. Tom Price Reveals Republicans Eyeing Medicare Overhaul In 2017:
"Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), the chairman of the budget committee, told reporters on Thursday that Republicans are eyeing major changes to Medicare in 2017.
"Price, who is being floated as a possible Health and Human Services Secretary in the next administration, said that he expects Republican[s] in the House to move on Medicare reforms "six to eight months" into the Trump administration.
"Privatization of Medicare has been a central feature of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's budget proposal for years, and the House GOP has voted in favor of it multiple times. Ryan himself said last week that Medicare would be on the table in the new Congress, signaling it could be taken up early in the new year."
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