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national committee to preserve social security and medicare
As Medicare Turns 59, We Still Must Defend It
Even after nearly six decades of Medicare’s overall success, we must continually protect it from conservatives’ attempts to cut and privatize the program.
Jul 30, 2024
Before Medicare was
signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson 59 years ago today, nearly half of American seniors had no hospital insurance. Private insurance companies were reluctant to cover anyone over 65. Even fewer seniors had coverage for non-hospital services like doctor’s visits. Many of the elderly were forced to exhaust their retirement savings to pay for medical care; some fell into poverty because of it. All of that changed with Medicare.
In Medicare’s first year of coverage, poverty decreased by 66% among the senior population. From 1965, when Medicare was enacted, to 1994, life expectancy at age 65 increased nearly three full years. This was no coincidence. Access to Medicare coverage for those who were previously uninsured helped lift seniors out of poverty and extend their lives.
As with Social Security, workers would contribute with each paycheck toward their future Medicare benefits. Upon putting his signature on this new program, a keystone of the Great Society, President Johnson declared, “Every citizen will be able, in their productive years when they are earning, to insure themselves against the ravages of illness in old age.”
Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for a second Trump presidency, would gut traditional Medicare by accelerating privatization and repealing drug price negotiation.
Medicare has been improved several times over the decades. In 1972, Americans with disabilities (under 65 years of age) became eligible for Medicare coverage—along with people suffering from chronic kidney disease needing dialysis or transplants. In 2003, prescription drug coverage was added to Medicare (though the program was prohibited from negotiating prices with drugmakers). The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 finally empowered Medicare to negotiate prices with Big Pharma—and lowered seniors’ costs by capping their out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs and insulin.
Nearly 60 years after it was enacted, Medicare is one of the most popular and efficient federal programs. Ninety-four percent of beneficiaries say they are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their quality of care. Unlike many other federal programs, Medicare spends less than 2% of its budget on administrative costs.
Medicare isn’t perfect. It should be expanded to cover dental, hearing, and vision care. More urgently, though, the privatized version of the program, Medicare Advantage (MA), is gobbling up a larger share of the program despite myriad problems, including MA insurers overbilling the government and denying care that’s always offered by traditional Medicare. The Biden-Harris administration has been working to hold those private plans more accountable, but much remains to be done to protect traditional Medicare from efforts toward privatization.
Even after 59 years of Medicare’s overall success, we must continually defend Medicare against conservatives’ attempts to cut and privatize the program. Our founder, Rep. James Roosevelt, Sr. (D-Calif.), son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, knew that Medicare (along with Social Security) would need continuous advocacy to withstand assaults from antagonistic political forces. That’s why the word “preserve” is in our organization’s name.
Many conservatives opposed Medicare from the start, labeling it “socialism” and “socialized medicine.” In 1962, Ronald Reagan warned that if Medicare were to be enacted, “One of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”
Today, the onslaught continues. The House Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) 2025 budget proposes to cut Medicare by an estimated $1 trillion over the next decade. The RSC would replace Medicare’s current system with vouchers, and push seniors into private plans that can and do deny coverage. Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for a second Trump presidency, would gut traditional Medicare by accelerating privatization and repealing drug price negotiation.
Democrats by and large support protecting and even expanding Medicare. President Joe Biden tried to add dental, vision, and hearing coverage in his Build Back Better Act, but encountered resistance from Republicans and centrist Democrats. It’s still a laudable goal.
Republicans, for the most part, advocate cutting Medicare benefits and privatization. We endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, because she knows the importance of Medicare to America’s seniors and people with disabilities—and has vowed to protect them. Former President Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been rhetorically all over the map on this topic, telling CNBC he is “open” to “cutting entitlements” but claiming to support Medicare. (His budgets as president called for billions of dollars in Medicare cuts.)
The 59th anniversary of Medicare is both an occasion for celebrating the program’s enormous successes over the past six decades—and a time to defend Medicare in the marbled halls of Washington, D.C., and at the ballot box this November.
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To Defend Social Security and Medicare From Trump, Seniors Endorse Biden
"Allowing Donald Trump back in the White House... is unacceptable," said one advocate. "The choice in November couldn't be clearer."
Jun 12, 2024
Three leading groups representing the interests of senior citizens made clear Wednesday they believe that Democratic President Joe Biden is the far superior choice to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump when it comes to protecting Social Security, Medicare, and other policies concerning older Americans.
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare (NCPSSM), National United Committee to Protect Pensions (NUCPP), and Social Security Works Political Action Committee (PAC) all backed Biden over the presumed Republican nominee.
"The Biden-Harris administration's record on senior issues is impeccable," said Social Security Works PAC president Jon "Bowzer" Bauman. "In sharp contrast, Donald Trump is an existential threat to our earned benefits. Despite his lies that he will not cut Social Security, all of his budgets as president proposed deep cuts."
"Allowing Donald Trump back in the White House along with a potential Republican House majority where three-fourths of its members want to cut Social Security by $1.5 trillion, including raising the retirement age to 69, is unacceptable," he argued. "The choice in November couldn't be clearer."
"Donald Trump is an existential threat to our earned benefits."
In a Wednesday opinion piece for Common Dreams, Social Security Works president Nancy Altman cataloged how Biden has "delivered for seniors in enormously consequential ways during his first term and will deliver even more if reelected."
"For years, politicians have talked about giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. Biden got it done. He took on Big Pharma and won," Altman wrote. "Republicans were threatening to hold hostage an increase in the debt limit—legislation essential to avoid a worldwide economic crash—in exchange for benefit cuts. Biden stood strong and won."
"Biden has endorsed congressional efforts to expand both Social Security and Medicare, and he supports paying for those expansions by requiring billionaires and the uber-wealthy to pay their fair share," she continued. He's "replaced the no-show Trump crony heading the Social Security Administration with a proven champion" as well as "proposed minimum staffing standards for nursing homes, worked to boost compensation and job quality for care workers, and fought to improve and expand care options."
After noting that the Biden administration also "forced shady financial advisers to stop ripping off working people planning for retirement," she took aim at Trump along with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) over their plans for federal programs that serve older Americans.
Altman has previously called out the Republican Study Committee—made up of the vast majority of GOP House members—over the group's budget proposal for fiscal year 2025, which she said proves that "the Republican Party is the party of cutting Social Security and Medicare, while giving tax handouts to billionaires."
"Hardworking Americans' retirement and health security is at stake."
Like the Social Security Works leaders, NUCPP president Kenneth Stribling on Wednesday highlighted Biden's progress so far—particularly cutting drug prices—and stressed that "the stakes for seniors are crucial in the November election."
"Not only does President Biden continue to be pro-labor, but he also supports seniors and promises to protect Social Security and Medicare," Stribling said. "There is no doubt that Social Security and Medicare need to be fixed. But the question remains: 'On whose back is that going to fall?' If Social Security and Medicare are under attack, we will activate our forces again and make our voices heard in Washington and at the ballot boxes in November."
NCPSSM president and CEO and Max Richtman on Wednesday pointed to his group's first-ever presidential endorsement during the last election cycle, saying that "we broke precedent in 2020 because we believed Joe Biden would fight for America's seniors—and protect Social Security and Medicare. We did not trust Donald Trump to safeguard either program or to uphold other cherished American institutions. Four years later, those beliefs have been validated beyond dispute."
After also listing Biden's positive actions and the threats posed by Trump, Richtman said that "as one of the nation's leading seniors' advocacy groups, with millions of members and supporters across the United States, we have a responsibility to put our weight behind candidates for federal office with respect for American institutions and the programs we defend."
In addition to backing Biden, "our PAC is endorsing candidates for Congress who strongly support Social Security and Medicare," he explained, also noting the group's national voter education campaign. "We believe that this is an existential election for Social Security and Medicare. Hardworking Americans' retirement and health security is at stake. Even though our organization has not traditionally endorsed presidential candidates, these past two cycles are obviously different."
"Another Trump presidency would be an absolute nightmare for America's seniors."
Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez said that the president "has always had the backs of seniors and he is honored to receive the endorsement" of three groups "at the forefront of efforts to advocate for seniors and protect vital programs like Social Security and Medicare."
"With today's endorsements, we will be stronger and more prepared than ever to mobilize seniors across the country, to remind voters of how dangerous Trump and his policies are, and to make him a loser again this November," she declared.
Reutersreported Wednesday that "older Americans could play a key role in the election, given that they vote at higher levels than any other group and account for nearly 10 million voters in key election battleground states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada."
The groups' announcements followed the Tuesday launch of the Biden campaign's national organizing program to engage older voters across the United States to reelect the president and Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Another Trump presidency would be an absolute nightmare for America's seniors, which is why Seniors for Biden-Harris will be critical to beating Donald Trump once again," said Chávez Rodriguez. "Seniors deserve a president who puts them first—that's President Biden."
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Trustee Reports Show Medicare, Social Security Must Be Defended From Trump
"The future of these earned benefit programs depends on who is elected this fall—both as president and to Congress," said one campaigner.
May 06, 2024
Advocacy groups, congressional Democrats, and U.S. President Joe Biden's reelection campaign on Monday pointed to new government reports on Medicare and Social Security as proof that the key programs must be protected from Republican attacks.
The annual trustee reports show that Social Security is projected to be fully funded until 2035, a year later than previously thought, while Medicare is expected to be fully funded until 2036, five years beyond the earlier projection.
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee to face Biden in November, "proposed cutting Social Security and Medicare every year he was in office, he's said repeatedly he would cut them, his allies openly plan to target them, and just this weekend he dismissed them as bribes," noted James Singer, a spokesperson for the Democrat's campaign.
"Let's be clear, Donald Trump will steal the hard-earned Social Security and Medicare benefits Americans have been paying into their entire lives and he'll use it to fund tax cuts for rich people like him," Singer warned. "President Biden keeps his promises. He has and will continue to protect Social Security and Medicare from MAGA Republican efforts to cut them—Donald Trump won't."
"No doubt we will hear cries from so-called 'fiscal conservatives' that Social Security is going 'bankrupt,' supposedly requiring Draconian measures—which couldn't be further than the truth."
Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said Monday that "current and future American retirees should feel confident about both Medicare and Social Security, which [are] stronger due to the robust economy under President Biden. But the future of these earned benefit programs depends on who is elected this fall—both as president and to Congress."
Fiesta highlighted that Biden's latest budget "calls for strengthening" the programs whereas Trump recently said that "there is a lot you can do... in terms of cutting" them and "the Republican Study Committee (RSC), which includes around 80% of House Republicans, stands ready to make cuts as well."
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, similarly declared that "today's report shows that our Social Security system is benefiting from the Biden economy. Due to robust job growth, low unemployment, and rising wages, more people than ever are contributing to Social Security and earning its needed protections."
"That said, Congress should take action sooner rather than later to ensure that Social Security can pay full benefits for generations to come, along with expanding Social Security's modest benefits," she argued, noting various plans from Democrats in Congress that "are paid for by requiring millionaires and billionaires to contribute more of their fair share."
Unlike Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C., "Republicans want to cut benefits despite overwhelming opposition from the American people," Altman said of federal lawmakers and the former president. Additionally, "Trump plans to sharply restrict immigration. This would harm Social Security by reducing the number of workers paying in."
"The United States is the wealthiest nation on Earth at the wealthiest moment in our history. We can use that wealth to protect and expand Social Security, or to provide yet more tax handouts to billionaires," she concluded. "This report is a reminder that the next decade is a crucial one for Social Security's future. Americans should vote accordingly this November."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, also asserted that "Congress must act NOW to strengthen Social Security for the 67 million Americans who depend on it. We cannot afford to wait to take action until the trust fund is mere months from insolvency, as Congress did in 1983."
According to Richtman:
No doubt we will hear cries from so-called 'fiscal conservatives' that Social Security is going 'bankrupt,' supposedly requiring Draconian measures—which couldn't be further than the truth. Revenue always will flow into Social Security from workers' payroll contributions, so the program will never be 'broke.' But no one wants seniors to suffer an automatic 17% benefit cut in 2035, so Congress must act deliberately, but not recklessly. A bad deal driven by cuts to earned benefits could be worse than no deal at all.
We strongly support revenue-side solutions that would bring more money into the trust fund by demanding that the wealthy pay their fair share. Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) has offered legislation that would do just that—by maintaining the current payroll wage cap (currently set at $168,600), but subjecting wages $400,000 and above to payroll taxes, as well—and dedicating some of high earners' investment income to Social Security. Rep. Larson's bill also would provide seniors with a much-needed benefit boost.
Larson was among the lawmakers who responded to Monday's Social Security report by demanding urgent action. The Democrat also called out his Republican colleagues for pushing cuts and trying to "ram their dangerous plan through an undemocratic and unaccountable so-called 'fiscal commission,'" which critics have dubbed a "death panel."
"The Social Security 2100 Act is co-sponsored by nearly 200 House Democrats and would improve benefits across the board while extending solvency until 2066, while Donald Trump and House Republicans continue their calls to slash Americans' hard-earned benefits!" Larson said. "By contrast, President Joe Biden and Democrats are working to strengthen Social Security, not cut it."
Co-sponsors of Larson's bill include Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee.
"Social Security is the greatest anti-poverty program in history, and ensuring its solvency for future generations has been one of my top priorities in Congress," Boyle said Monday, promoting the Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act, his bill with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). "Unfortunately, while Democrats and President Biden want to protect Social Security and Medicare, Republicans have made clear they want to tear them down."
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