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Insider’s Report: Donald Trump Spews Lies About Social Security and Medicare
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Former President Donald Trump debates President Joe Biden on CNN.
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Now that we’ve had a little time to digest what happened at the June 27 presidential debate, let’s discuss.
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As seniors’ advocates, it is not our job to parse Joe Biden’s debate performance. It’s our job to tell Americans in straight talk who is telling the truth about Social Security and Medicare — and who will protect them as president.
In the debate, Donald Trump repeatedly spread
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disinformation about seniors’ earned benefits, while President Biden’s statements were consistent with the truth — and with his record in office of defending both programs.
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As seniors’ advocates, it is not our job to parse Joe Biden’s debate performance. It’s our job to tell Americans in straight talk who is telling the truth about Social Security and Medicare — and who will protect them as president. In the debate, Donald Trump repeatedly spread disinformation about seniors’ earned benefits, while President Biden’s statements were consistent with the truth — and with his record in office of defending both programs.
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No one who is serious about protecting Social Security and Medicare would undermine them the way Trump did during the debate. Early on, Trump baselessly claimed that undocumented workers are collecting Social Security benefits — a myth that has no basis in reality.
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Here’s the truth: Undocumented workers are not eligible for Social Security benefits, period. Either Trump doesn’t understand how America’s greatest social insurance programs work — or he is purposely lying.
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Trump turned reality inside out on the issue of Medicare, as well, accusing the Biden administration of “destroying” the program, again falsely claiming that the President is giving undocumented workers benefits (for which, again, they are ineligible). "He will wipe out Medicare…” – Donald Trump, 6/27/24
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In the real world, President Biden strengthened the Medicare program through the Inflation Reduction Act. He literally empowered Medicare to negotiate drug prices with Big Pharma for the first time in history, which is projected to save beneficiaries $7.4 billion per year in prescription costs — in addition to capping insulin costs at $35 per month and limiting seniors’ out of pocket drug costs to $2,000 annually.
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Trump tried to take credit for lowering prescription drug prices but never presented a comprehensive program while he was in office, and unlike President Biden, never enacted one.
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While President Trump has been all over the map on Social Security (saying earlier this year that he was “open” to “cutting entitlements” and then walking it back), President Biden affirmed his commitment to strengthening the program’s finances by demanding that high earners (anyone with more than $400,000 in yearly wages) begin paying their fair share.
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Whatever your takeaway from the debate performance, it’s clear that Social Security and Medicare hang in the balance this election. So please, reaffirm your strong support for protecting these vital programs by signing our urgent Petition to Congress today.
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Good Bills
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The National Committee endorses the “Fair COLA for Seniors Act,” (H.R. 716) introduced by U.S. Representative John Garamendi (CA-08) which requires the use of the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), for the purpose of determining cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for a broad array of Federal retirement programs, including Social Security. Using the CPI-E will ensure that benefits for retirees are not diminished by rising costs in the goods and services that seniors disproportionately consume. This bill also extends the use of the CPI-E index to federal civil service retirement, military retirement, veterans’ pensions and compensation.
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Ask Us!
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Whether you’re retired or approaching retirement, our team of experts in the field of Social Security policy is available to answer your questions about benefits.
You can either search our archives for valuable advice on a broad range of concerns or submit your question here.
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This week’s question is:
I took 5 years off from working full-time to raise my child. I am back working F/T again but am wondering how severely this will impact my Social Security benefit? Is there anything I can do to make up any potential benefit loss?
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Click here to read the answer.
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Ask Us
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Whether you’re currently retired or approaching retirement, we can help answer your questions and provide valuable advice on Social Security.
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Join Now/Donate
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Your support sustains our campaigns in Washington to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare.
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Social Security Benefits
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Learn more about the Social Security program and the policies the National Committee supports that would strengthen your earned benefits.
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“President Biden’s positions on protecting and defending Social Security and Medicare are longstanding — he hasn’t deviated from them — and former President Trump is someone who keeps getting closer to talking about cutting benefits,” said Max Richtman, president and CEO of the nonprofit National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. (June 28, 2024, MarketWatch, Alessandra Malito)
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Read Here →
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“There is a problem 10 or 11 years down the road, when Social Security trust fund reserves will be used up,” NCPSSM President Max Richtman told reporter Kimberly Adams of NPR's Marketplace radio program. “That would prompt automatic benefit cuts. We don’t want that. We want full benefits,” he said. (June 27, 2024, NPR Marketplace, Kimberly Adams)
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Read Here →
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An outgoing CEO of the National Academy of Social Insurance, Bill Arnone looks back on his many decades as a thought leader on retirement security. A former staffer of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Sr., Bill has worked to raise the public’s knowledge and appreciation of Social Security. In this wide-ranging interview, he tells us that it’s time to hand off his life’s work to a new generation of advocates and leaders. (June 24, 2024, www.ncpssm.org, You Earned This Podcast Series)
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Listen Here →
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Since 2007, the volume of beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage has nearly tripled. Because these plans are administered through a private insurance company, seniors are now subject to shifts in contracting and network restrictions that don’t exist in traditional Medicare. (July 8, 2024, Chicago Sun-Times, Dr. Monica Maalouf)
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Read More →
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People on Medicare will see coinsurance savings on prescriptions for 64 different medications available through Medicare Part B over the next few months, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced recently. (July 1, 2024, CNET, Jessica Rendall)
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Read More →
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The latest gambit is Medicare Advantage, the private sector “alternative” to traditional Medicare in which currently more than half of the eligible Medicare population is enrolled. We were told it would encourage insurers to provide better care at lower cost. New research says, nope, that’s not what’s happening. (July 2, 2024, FAIR, Janine Jackson)
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Congress is tackling the paperwork and holdups that can bog down access to healthcare under Medicare Advantage plans. A bipartisan, bicameral proposal was recently introduced to streamline the prior-authorization process under Medicare Advantage to allow older adults to get the healthcare they need faster and more. (July 1, 2024, MarketWatch, Jessica Hall)
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