If Republican budget hawks like Price truly cared about seniors, children, the disabled, and other vulnerable segments of society, they would not be slashing safety net programs.
via Entitled to Know.
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Some in Washington talk about a need for “entitlement reform.” That translates to possible cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid — or all three. One crucial element should not be missed: These safety net programs work in tandem. Changes to one affect another. Just-released data show this is particularly true for older Americans, whose financial and health security depend on these programs working in concert.
A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation lays bare this interdependence. Nearly three-quarters of retirees see little to no annual increase in their Social Security income after they pay their Medicare hospital and drug premiums.
Read more from this article via The Hill.
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In a New Hampshire speech, New Jersey’s GOP governor proposed an overhaul of Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare that would reduce benefits for some retired seniors, eliminating them entirely for individuals with income over $200,000 and raising the retirement age to 69.
via NJ Today.
This isn’t anything new. Christie is very vocal when it comes to earned benefits.
Related Reading:
But I feel from all the budgets that I’ve passed, normalizing entitlement reform, pushing the cause of entitlement reform and the house passing entitlement reform, I’m very proud of that fact. But yeah, of course more work needs to be done, and it really is entitlements. That’s where the work needs to be done, and I’m going to keep fighting for that.
Speaker Paul Ryan via Politico.
Related Reading:
Seniors Relieved as America’s Privatizer-In-Chief Heads for the Exits.
- House Speaker Paul Ryan’s retirement from Congress lifts a very dark cloud that has hung over older Americans for nearly two decades. During that time, Speaker Ryan has been the Privatizer-in-Chief on Capitol Hill – advocating to turn Medicare into a voucher program and to gamble retirees’ Social Security benefits on the whims of Wall Street.
However, some conservatives in Congress insist that relief for programs like the Older Americans Act be paid for by cutting Medicare and Medicaid. This budgetary sleight-of-hand could trade partial relief for some seniors’ programs by cutting other essential health security programs like Medicare and Medicaid, thus further eroding the tenuous economic situation many older Americans face.
Max Richtman via Huffington Post.
‘Entitlement Reform’ and Medicaid
Front and center in any discussion of entitlement reform is the future of Medicaid, which is a larger program than Medicare and which dodged more bullets in 2017 than anytime in its 52-year history. But opponents of Medicaid are just reloading.
Nearly one in five Americans — 74 million people — rely on Medicaid to stay healthy and independent. Federal law guarantees Medicaid coverage to pregnant women, children, elderly and disabled people under certain income levels.
The two most common proposals for Medicaid through “entitlement reform” are to block grant it to the states or impose a per-capita spending limit on the program. Both have real dangers for those who rely on the Medicaid.
via Next Avenue.
Related Reading:
After Passing Senate Tax Bill, GOP to Target Seniors’ Earned Benefits.
- We can now safely say that seniors should take Republicans’ word for it: After giving the wealthy and profitable corporations a multi-trillion-dollar holiday gift, Congress will take an axe to programs Americans have paid into for the entire working lives.
How House and Senate Tax Legislation Affects Seniors.
- The tax legislation would leave Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security vulnerable to benefit cuts because of its dramatic $1.5 trillion increase in the public debt – an increase that will have to be offset in the future.
- Inevitably, older Americans and people with disabilities will be forced to pay a heavy price for this irresponsible legislation.
Asked Monday if the Trump administration would address “entitlement reform,” White House chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow said it will “probably” look at “larger entitlements” next year. Entitlement reform generally refers to changes or cuts to large government social programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or food stamps.
via CNBC.
Related Reading:
Trump Advisor Re-Affirms Commitment to Cutting Social Security & Medicare.
- This aligns with comments from National Republican Congressional Committee chair, Rep. Steve Stivers, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and several other key GOP members about the need to pay for last year’s tax cuts by ‘reforming’ Social Security and Medicare. ‘Reforming,’ of course, means cutting and privatizing.
Millions of current and future retirees were no doubt hoping that President Trump would use last night’s speech to Congress to reaffirm his promises not to touch Social Security and Medicare. Instead, the President ducked and covered. He did not even utter the words “Social Security” or “Medicare” in his entire hour-long address. As for Medicaid – which millions of American seniors rely upon for skilled nursing care – the President only touched on it once, with a veiled reference to converting guaranteed benefits into block grants, which would hurt beneficiaries.
via Entitled to Know.
The conservative argument that the retirement crisis is a myth has been based on the notion that Americans actually will have far more in retirement resources than they recognize — particularly that Social Security benefits will amount to a much larger percentage of workers’ lifetime income than has been assumed. Ergo, there’s no need to expand Social Security to give retirees more.
via Los Angeles Times.
Further Reading:
Unfortunately, seniors will still receive no cost of living adjustment in 2016 and the sequester cuts to Medicare providers will continue to pay for non-Medicare programs. It’s clear the GOP-led Congress still sees Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as piggy banks to fund other legislative priorities and this hostage-taking, threats to benefits and crisis creation will continue.
Max Richtman via Entitled to Know.
OMB Director Mulvaney on Entitlement Reform via CNBC
- Mick Mulvaney: The discussion we're going to try and drive is, yeah, we're going to raise the debt ceiling. But we're going to have to do it as part and parcel of a larger thing to try and solve and resolve some of our debt problems.
- John Harwood: Well, that means entitlement reform, right?
- Mick Mulvaney: It may. There's a lot of entitlement reform other than just how old do you have to be to get your Social Security benefits.