future of medicarea comprehensive health insurance program for America’s seniors, continues to be a campaign feature from both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in the final stages leading up to the presidential election. 2024 presidential election.
This year’s vote means that the 67.5 million Americans enrolled in Medicare plans significant changesmainly arises from the following results: inflation control law Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in 2022.
Harris has touted the legislation as providing more generous prescription spending benefits for seniors, which Biden administration officials say would eliminate rising premiums and other concerns for most drug plans. It is said that no reduction has occurred.
Part of that “stabilization” is the result of billions of dollars poured into efforts to lower premiums, which Republicans complain is an “election-year stunt.” Medicare Part B premiums also continue to increase and are estimated to reach $185 per month by 2025.
The legislation also provides some respite for lawmakers grappling with the program’s long bankruptcy crisis as spending still continues. surpass Taxes are the source of that funding. Medicare’s trust fund has until 2036 to run out, thanks in large part to legislative savings and the economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Harris wants to expand Medicare benefits
harris made her Proposals to expand Medicare coverage That’s because a common thread in her stump speeches in recent weeks has been helping home health care. The plan also calls for adding hearing and vision benefit coverage to Medicare.
The new benefit expansion could be funded by another Harris proposal. Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Programcreated by the Inflation Control Act.
The price cap program, as currently designed, would be too small to cover the expanded benefits Harris desires. But the campaign points to estimates that, if approved by Congress, billions more could be recovered through price caps and other more aggressive approaches to drug cost reform.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign responded to Harris’ announcement by pointing to his own promises in this year’s Republican platform, including “putting resources back into home care.”
They also cited changes Medicare made during the COVID-19 pandemic under the Trump administration, including expanding access to telehealth providers.
President Trump wants to block Medicare age increase
Frequent applause at President Trump’s rallies are his promises to block raising the eligibility age for Medicare, currently set at 65, and to abolish the income tax. About social security benefits.
“I will fight for and protect Social Security and Medicare,” Trump told supporters at a Pennsylvania rally on Oct. 9. “I will not cut them, and I will not raise the age, which is ultimately what will happen.” he said. .
These pledges could add to the tough challenges facing Congress as it seeks difficult solutions to Medicare’s bankruptcy. The deadline to defund Medicare has been pushed back, but officials are warning Congress that delaying steps to shore up the fund now will force more painful changes down the road. .
Trump has portrayed his pledge as a showdown against his Democratic rivals, but in reality the retirement age issue was a dividing point within the party. during the Republican primary. House Democrats have also slammed some Republicans over plans that suggest “gradual adjustments to the retirement age” in the future.
Harris slams Trump for supporting Medicare cuts
Democrats have long accused President Trump of supporting Medicare cuts, even though he has repeatedly vowed not to cut funding for the program.
The Harris campaign revived attacks from President Trump’s first term, claiming that Trump’s budget proposal cuts “Medicare support to hospitals and other health care providers in the name of eliminating wasteful spending.”
“Now Donald Trump is taking a different approach. He tried to cut Medicare and Social Security every year he was president,” Harris said in remarks near the White House on October 29. said near the White House that he had taken her name. closing argument.
At the time, President Trump’s officials defended the savings as good government reform and said Medicare funding would still increase in the budget. The changes largely follow recommendations by a bipartisan advisory committee to improve the program, and an outside budget watchdog group agreed they would not directly impact beneficiaries.
Harris also argued that her Republican opponent would cut Medicare and reverse provisions added to the Anti-Inflation Act, such as the Medicare Drug Price Bargaining Program. As evidence, she cites the Heritage Foundation’s proposal. “Project 2025” The platform was written by Trump allies, even though Trump himself disavowed the document.
President Trump accuses Harris of ‘ruining’ plan
President Trump frequently brings up Medicare when he accuses Harris of having “broken” the program. He claimed he was framing the attack in the same way he did against President Biden earlier this year, before Biden left office, and that there has been a spike in attacks on Biden. immigration They were “destroying” Medicare.
“They’re making it possible for millions of people to have Social Security and Medicare, and they’re trying to destroy that,” President Trump said on October 29. remarks From Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida.
Under current law, illegal immigrants are not eligible for Medicare. Only some “legally present immigrants” are eligible for premium-free Medicare, usually only after seniors have paid payroll taxes for a sufficient number of years.
A more nuanced version of Trump’s attack released by her campaign points to Harris’ support for a “pathway to citizenship” for immigrants. The Trump campaign argues that this could threaten the program’s survival by potentially allowing “millions of low-wage immigrants to become U.S. citizens.”
This echoes similar claims that have been raised in Washington for years. failure of immigration reform in 2013 Policies to create a “path to citizenship” were projected to result in increased Medicare spending to cover additional people, but were also projected to increase tax revenues, which could outweigh the increased spending. Ta.
The Harris campaign promises to solve Medicare’s funding shortfall “by forcing corporations and the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share of taxes.”
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