There wasn’t a whole lot of focus during the election on social security and Medicare, with only vague assurances from the candidates that social security and Medicare benefits would not be touched.
But that was never the plan of “the zombie-eyeg
granny starver from the state of Wisconsin,” Ayn Rand fanboy Paul Ryan. This ideological extremist has had a plan to privatize Medicare by “replacing Medicare with what we might call Vouchercare. The government would no longer pay your major medical bills; instead, it would give you a voucher that could be applied to the purchase of private insurance. And, if the voucher proved insufficient to buy decent coverage, hey, that would be your problem.” The Medicare Killers (2012).
Paul Krugman today updates his earlier column. The Medicare Killers (2016):
During the campaign, Donald Trump often promised to be a different kind of Republican, one who would represent the interests of working-class voters who depend on major government programs. “I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,” he declared, under the headline “Why Donald Trump Won’t Touch Your Entitlements.”
It was, of course, a lie. The transition team’s point man on Social Security is a longtime advocate of privatization [Michael Korbey, a former lobbyist who has spent much of his career advocating for cutting and privatizing the program], and all indications are that the incoming administration is getting ready to kill Medicare, replacing it with vouchers that can be applied to the purchase of private insurance. Oh, and it’s also likely to raise the age of Medicare eligibility.
