Comparing Harris and Trump's positions on Medicare for 2024

The future of Medicare, America's vast health insurance program for seniors, continues to be discussed on the campaign trail by Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in this latest row right leading to the 2024 presidential election.

This year's vote comes at a time when the 67.5 million Americans enrolled in Medicare plans are beginning to see significant changes, resulting largely from the Inflation Reduction Act that Vice President Kamala is pushing for. Harris voted in 2022.

Harris touted the law's more generous prescription spending benefits for seniors, which Biden administration officials said did not lead to feared premium hikes or cuts for most plans drug insurance.

Part of this “stabilization” is the result of billions invested in premium reduction efforts, which Republicans have expressed frustration with as an “election year stunt.” Premiums for Medicare Part B also continue to rise, up to about $185 per month in 2025.

The law also offered some relief to lawmakers grappling with the program's long-running insolvency crisis because spending still exceeds the taxes that fund it. The Medicare trust fund now has until 2036 before running out, thanks in large part to savings from the law and the economic rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harris wants to expand Medicare benefits

Harris has made her proposal to expand Medicare coverage for home health aides a common part of her stump speech in recent weeks. The plan also calls for adding coverage for hearing and vision benefits to Medicare.

The expansion of the new benefits could be financed by a separate proposal from Harris to expand the Medicare drug price negotiation program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The price cap program, as currently designed, will be too small to cover the expanded benefits Harris desires. But the campaign pointed to estimates suggesting billions more could be recouped through a more aggressive approach to price caps and other drug cost reforms, if Congress approves it.

Former President Donald Trump's campaign responded to Harris' announcement by highlighting its own promises in this year's Republican platform, including “shifting resources to home care.”

They also cited changes Medicare made during the COVID-19 pandemic under Trump, such as expanding access to telehealth providers.

Trump wants to block Medicare age increase

A frequent applause line at Trump rallies is his promise to block any increase in the eligibility age for Medicare coverage, which is currently set at 65, and to eliminate income taxes on benefits social security.

“I will fight and protect Social Security and Medicare. There will be no budget cuts, and we will not raise the age, as they are eventually going to do,” Trump told his supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania on October 9. .

These promises could add to the considerable challenges facing Congress as it navigates thorny solutions to Medicare's insolvency. Although the deadline for Medicare to run out of money has been pushed back, officials have warned Congress that delaying action now to shore up the fund would lead to even more painful changes in the future.

While Trump presented his pledge as an offensive against his Democratic rival, the retirement age issue was actually a point of division within his own party during the Republican primaries. House Democrats also criticized some of their Republican colleagues over a plan that suggested “modest adjustments to the retirement age” in the future.

Harris accuses Trump of supporting Medicare cuts

Democrats have accused Trump of supporting cuts to Medicare for years, despite his repeated promises not to cut funding for the program.

The Harris campaign revived attacks from Trump's first term, which claimed his budget proposals cut “Medicare support for hospitals and other providers under the guise of eliminating wasteful spending.”

“Now Donald Trump has a different approach. He's tried to cut Medicare and Social Security every year he's been president,” Harris said Oct. 29, in a speech outside the White House that the campaign presented as his final plea.

At the time, Trump White House officials defended the savings as good government reforms and said Medicare funding would continue to increase as part of the budget. The changes largely echoed recommendations from a nonpartisan advisory commission to improve the program, and outside budget watchdogs agreed it would not have a direct impact on beneficiaries.

Harris also said her Republican opponent would cut Medicare and roll back provisions added by the Inflation Reduction Act, such as Medicare's drug price negotiation program. As proof, she cites the proposals of the Heritage Foundation's “Project 2025” platform, drafted by Trump's allies, despite her own disavowal of the document.

Trump accuses Harris of 'bankrupting the program'

On the trail, Trump most often brings up Medicare when he accuses Harris of “bankrupting the program.” He frames the attack the same way he did against President Biden earlier this year, before Mr. Biden withdrew, saying a surge of migrants was “destroying” Medicare.

“They're giving millions of these people access to Social Security, to Medicare. They're going to destroy it,” Trump said Oct. 29, in a speech from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Under current law, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicare. Only certain “lawfully present immigrants” can receive premium-free Medicare, usually only after these seniors have paid their payroll taxes for enough years.

A more nuanced version of Trump's attack, released by his campaign, highlights Harris' support for an “earned path to citizenship” for immigrants. The Trump campaign says this could “turn millions of low-wage migrants into American citizens” and threaten the survival of the program.

This echoes a similar claim that has been made in Washington for years. The failure of a 2013 immigration reform effort to provide a “pathway to citizenship” was expected to result in increased Medicare spending to cover the additional people, although it was also expected to raise more tax revenue that could offset the increase in spending.

The Harris campaign promised to solve the Medicare funding gap “by making corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of taxes.”

More from Alexandre Tin

Alexander Tin is a digital journalist for CBS News based in the Washington, DC bureau. It covers the Biden administration's public health agencies, including the federal response to infectious disease outbreaks like COVID-19.

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