Why do Republicans want to destroy Social Security and Medicare?
Today’s Republicans want to avoid political accountability by destroying Social Security and Medicare without leaving clear fingerprints. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.
Will Social Security and Medicare be a big election issue in 2018?
If Democrats are successful in making the American public aware that the Republicans desire to steal their earned Social Security and Medicare benefits, Social Security and Medicare could well be a potent issue in 2018, when seniors vote in disproportionately large numbers.
Can the pandemic-related deficits justify cuts to Social Security?
On both counts, using the pandemic-related fiscal measures to justify cuts for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is wrong. The pandemic-related deficits are mainly temporary. Congress enacted the CARES Act in March 2020, which offered temporary relief mainly to families, unemployed workers and closed business.
Why don’t Social Security and Medicare go through appropriations?
Social Security — the people’s pension — and Medicare — the first step toward universal health insurance for all — do not go through the appropriations process because, as monthly pension payments and medical insurance, they must pay what is owed, not what Congress chooses to spend.
How did the 2017 tax bill change the impact of the ACA?
The law makes multiple changes to the taxation of individuals and corporations. It also repeals the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) individual mandate penalties, which will erase some of the gains in insurance coverage achieved since implementation of the ACA's coverage expansions.
What did the tax cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 do?
The Act would increase the total budget deficits (debt) by $1,412 billion, less $179 billion in feedback effects, for a $1,233 billion net debt increase (excluding higher interest costs). The lower marginal tax rates would increase labor supply, mainly by encouraging lower-earning spouses to work more.
How tax cut and Jobs Act will impact the individual taxpayers?
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will have an effect on tax payments for all Americans from the 2018 tax year and primarily lasting through 2025. Overall, the TCJA lowers tax rates across income levels helping reduce Americans' income tax burden.
What federal payroll tax goes toward Social Security and Medicare?
The current tax rate for social security is 6.2% for the employer and 6.2% for the employee, or 12.4% total. The current rate for Medicare is 1.45% for the employer and 1.45% for the employee, or 2.9% total.
Who voted against Medicare?
When Medicare was first being considered Senate Republican Robert Dole (then in the House) voted against it. Also in opposition to Medicare, in a famous 1964 speech, Ronald Reagan explained that his opposition to Social Security and Medicare is why he switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
What would happen if Social Security was passed?
A representative of the Illinois manufacturers testified that if Social Security was passed it would undermine America by “destroying initiative, discouraging thrift, and stifling individual responsibility.”. In 1935, Republican congressman John Taber said Social Security “is designed to prevent business recovery, to enslave workers, ...
Why did McConnell say the Republicans would defend the tax cuts?
This poll was taken a week after Senator McConnell said the Republicans would defend the tax cuts and cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in order to curb the growing deficit, caused in significant part by those very tax cuts. The Republican Party has always been associated with opposition to Social Security.
What percentage of Americans would prefer to reverse the Republican tax cuts?
A poll one week before the election about Republican social and economic policy is a red flag for Republicans. 60% of Americans would prefer to reverse the Republican 2017 tax cuts than cut spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Which party is opposed to Social Security?
The Republican Party has always been associated with opposition to Social Security. Economic historian Max Skidmore shows that the final vote for Social Security was lopsided--only 2% of Democrats voted against it (because it wasn't generous enough) while 33% of Republicans voted against Social Security.
Is Social Security a fiscal discipline?
Social Security is one of the few government programs with built-in fiscal discipline. Bottom Line: Though Senator McConnell may not have meant to publicize the Republican agenda to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the long history of Republican opposition may be an example of what Sigmund Freud and modern psychologists believe--a slip ...
Who is the highest ranking Republican in the Senate?
Not only is President Trump arguing with leading Republican Paul Ryan, about the Constitution, but the highest-ranking Republican in the Senate – Senator Mitch McConnell -- has called for cuts to Social Security.
Summary
According to the annual reports of the Social Security and Medicare trustees, the financial outlook for the two programs is not favorable.
Purpose of Trust Funds
Social Security and Medicare are programs created by federal laws and operated by agencies of the federal government. The taxes and premiums the public pays to support them and the benefits they provide to their recipients flow into and out of the U.S. Treasury.
Measures of Financial Soundness
The trustees of the two programs report annually on the financial status of their various trust funds. Although they use a number of measures, the media and general public typically place emphasis on trust fund exhaustion dates and long-range summary measures of financial status, such as the test of long-range close actuarial balance.
Budget Impact of the Programs
At times, the operations of trust funds are seen as measuring the effect that Social Security and Medicare have on the federal budget and the Treasury.
Resources Required to Pay for Social Security and Medicare
Trust fund assessments are intended to convey the adequacy of the financing arrangements established for the programs. In other words, the trustees reports evaluate whether and for how long the programs would be able to pay benefits with the spending authority Congress has given them.
Assessing the Economic Impacts
From an economic perspective, the gaps between what the government receives and spends for Social Security and Medicare can only be filled by increased borrowing, higher taxes, reduced spending, or some combination thereof. This total gap is composed of two parts.
Endnotes
1. Significant being defined here as having an average income shortfall of 5 percent or larger for the following 75 years.
How many people are receiving Social Security above the poverty line?
Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have an understanding of the importance that Social Security plays in keeping some 22 million people currently receiving benefits above the federal poverty line.
How long has Social Security been borrowed?
However, the truth of the matter is that Congress has been able to "borrow" Social Security's excess cash (i.e., asset reserves) for five decades, and it's happened under every single president over that stretch.
What will happen to the net cash outflow in 2020?
Beginning at the turn of the decade, ongoing demographic shifts (e.g., boomers retiring, increased longevity, and growing income inequality) are expected to cause the net cash outflow to balloon.
When will the 67 age limit be increased?
Currently, set to peak at age 67 for those born in 2022 or later, Republicans would like to see this gradually increased to as high as age 70. This would require retired workers to either wait longer to receive their full payout, or to accept a steeper monthly reduction if claiming early.
Does means testing reduce Social Security?
Some Republicans, including Donald Trump, have called for a form of means-testing, which would reduce or eliminate Social Security benefit payments for those folks or couples who are wealthy.
Did the Republican Party steal Social Security money?
Another misconception is that the Republican Party stole money from the Social Security Trust and used it to fund wars. More specifically, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush have come under intense scrutiny for borrowing from Social Security and "not putting the money back."
Is Social Security inflection point?
According to the report, Social Security is facing an inflection point this year. For the first time since 1982, aggregate expenditures, which almost entirely includes benefits, but also takes into account administrative expenses and Railroad Retirement exchange contributions, will exceed revenue generated.
Why are Social Security benefits part of the federal government?
The benefits these programs pay are part of the Federal Government’s mandatory spending because authorizing legislation ( Social Security Act) requires us to pay them. While Congress does not set the amount of benefits we pay each year, they decide funding for our administrative budget.
What is the purpose of the Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees?
The Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees informs members of Congress about SSA’s funding request, including how it will support performance goals and initiatives to improve service. For specific sections, please see the following:
What is the Republican claim that they are simply seeking to save Social Security and Medicare?
Republican claims that they are simply seeking to save Social Security and Medicare is the same Orwellian language used during the Vietnam War, when a military officer claimed that a village had to be destroyed in order to save it. Similarly, when today’s Republicans talk of “saving” Social Security and Medicare, ...
What are the Republicans' obsessions with Medicare?
The Republican Obsession With Dismantling Social Security And Medicare. Today’s Republicans want to avoid political accountability by destroying Social Security and Medicare without leaving clear fingerprints. The Republicans are desperate to destroy Social Security and Medicare. These two programs demonstrate government at its best.
What was the first action that House Republicans took in the new Congress?
So obsessed are the Republicans in their desire to eliminate these effective government programs that the very first action that House Republicans took in the new Congress was to adopt a rules package that included a new rule that amounts to a stealth attack on Social Security and Medicare. Advertisement.
Why does Medicare not go through the appropriations process?
Social Security — the people’s pension — and Medicare — the first step toward universal health insurance for all — do not go through the appropriations process because, as monthly pension payments and medical insurance, they must pay what is owed, not what Congress chooses to spend. If Social Security and Medicare were subject to the whims ...
What are the two programs that Republicans want to destroy?
The Republicans are desperate to destroy Social Security and Medicare. These two programs demonstrate government at its best. The federal government runs these two extremely popular programs more efficiently, universally, securely, and effectively than the private sector does with its alternatives — or indeed could, ...
Do Medicare and Social Security need to be fixed?
The reality is that Social Security and Medicare don’t need fixing. They can and should be expanded, but they work fine, having stood the test of time. And, most assuredly, neither Social Security nor Medicare need saving.
Do Republican politicians want to destroy Medicare?
Republican politicians understand how popular Social Security and Medicare are. Yet they desperately want to destroy the programs, which put the lie to their anti-government agenda by illustrating clearly that there are some tasks that government does much better then the private sector.
How many people would lose health insurance?
Lawrence O’Donnell talks to Ezra Klein about the “catastrophic” CBO report – which estimates 22 million people would lose health care coverage – and GOP Rep. David Jolly shares his personal story of what happened when he found himself unemployed and uninsured. (June 26, 2017)
How much is the Pentagon's waste?
The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post.
What is the House budget resolution for 2015?
Res. 96, introduced by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), was passed by the House of Representatives on April 10, 2014. It would end traditional Medicare, make it harder for seniors to choose their own doctors, and increase health care costs for both current and future retirees. The House Republican budget ends traditional Medicare and achieves savings for the federal government by shifting costs to Medicare beneficiaries.
What would happen if the 66 year old lost Medicare?
The Ryan budget also calls for repealing provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would make insurance available and more affordable for 65 and 66 year olds if they lost Medicare coverage. Without the guarantees in the ACA, such as requiring insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions and to limit age rating, it would be very difficult and expensive for older people to purchase private insurance.
What is Medicare voucher 2024?
Rather they would receive a voucher, also referred to as a premium support payment, to be used to purchase private health insurance or traditional Medicare through a Medicare Exchange . The amount of the voucher would be determined each year when private health insurance plans and traditional Medicare participate in a competitive bidding process. Seniors choosing a plan costing more than the average amount determined through competitive bidding would be required to pay the difference between the voucher and the plan’s premium. In some geographic areas, traditional Medicare could be more expensive. This would make it harder for seniors, particularly lower-income beneficiaries, to choose their own doctors if their only affordable options are private plans that have limited provider networks.
Contents
Summary
- According to the annual reports of the Social Security and Medicare trustees, the financial outlook for the two programs is not favorable. Under the central forecasts reported for the past 17 years under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, both programs face significant long-range financing problems arising in large measure from the agi...
Purpose of Trust Funds
- Social Security and Medicare are programs created by federal laws and operated by agencies of the federal government. The taxes and premiums the public pays to support them and the benefits they provide to their recipients flow into and out of the U.S. Treasury. The U.S. Treasury Department tracks their financial flows through accounts that by law are labeled trust funds. Th…
Measures of Financial Soundness
- The trustees of the two programs report annually on the financial status of their various trust funds. Although they use a number of measures, the media and general public typically place emphasis on trust fund exhaustion dates and long-range summary measures of financial status, such as the test of long-range close actuarial balance. This summary estimate measures wheth…
Budget Impact of The Programs
- At times, the operations of trust funds are seen as measuring the effect that Social Security and Medicare have on the federal budget and the Treasury. If the trust funds show an excess of income over outgo, some read this to indicate that the programs are having a favorable effect on the budget and vice versa if trust fund outgo exceeds trust fund income. The receipts and expen…
Resources Required to Pay For Social Security and Medicare
- Trust fund assessments are intended to convey the adequacy of the financing arrangements established for the programs. In other words, the trustees reports evaluate whether and for how long the programs would be able to pay benefits with the spending authority Congress has given them. But those assessments are not intended to indicate the programs budgetary and economi…
Assessing The Economic Impacts
- From an economic perspective, the gaps between what the government receives and spends for Social Security and Medicare can only be filled by increased borrowing, higher taxes, reduced spending, or some combination thereof. This total gap is composed of two parts. The gap between what a trust fund receives and spends is known as a trust fund deficit. For a trust fund …
Endnotes
- 1.Significant being defined here as having an average income shortfall of 5 percent or larger for the following 75 years. 2.It has been postulated that excess Social Security and Medicare receipts give the government more money than it otherwise would receive, and as such, they are a substitute for government borrowing from the public. There is, however, no way of tracing the us…