Get The Facts On Trump’s Broken Promises To Seniors

Donald Trump has pushed numerous lies and myths about his record on senior citizen issues. While he has claimed he won’t cut programs for seniors and that he will help retirees, his record is one of advocating to slash senior programs, and at the same time, cut taxes for big business and high-income earners. Don’t fall for Trump’s empty promises, get the facts.

Myth: Trump won’t cut Social Security or Medicare

Trump Promised He Wouldn’t Cut Medicare or Social Security: Donald Trump promised at his campaign launch that he would “Save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without cuts.” He made a similar remark on his favorite medium, Twitter, on May 21, 2015. Referring to a speech he gave on the campaign trail, he stated: “I am going to save Social Security without any cuts.” [Twitter, 5/21/15; Trump Campaign Announcement, New York NY, 6/16/15]

Trump On Medicare: “I’m Going To Fix It And Make It Better, But I’m Not Going To Cut It.” On October 25, 2015, Donald Trump blasted one of his primary opponents on Twitter and stated that he would “save” Medicare. He repeated this on the November 3 edition of Fox News’ Hannity, claiming that “Ben Carson wants to get rid of Medicare. You can’t get rid of Medicare. You know, Medicare’s a program that works. There’s fraud, there’s abuse, there’s waste, but you don’t get rid of Medicare. You can’t do that. People love Medicare. And it’s unfair to them. I’m going to fix it and make it better, but I’m not going to cut it. [Twitter, 10/25/15; Hannity, Fox News, 11/3/15]

Fact: Trump Has Proposed Hundreds Of Billions In Cuts To Medicare And Slash Billions From Social Security Programs

Medicare Is A Major Issue In Florida: According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), 4.5 million people, or 21 percent of Florida’s population, are on Medicare, as of 2018. [KFF, date accessed 8/7/19, 8/7/19]

Vox: “Trump Said He Wouldn’t Cut Medicaid, Social Security, And Medicare. His 2020 Budget Cuts All 3.” Trump’s FY20 budget proposed cutting $575 billion from Medicare. “Here’s what’s actually happening: This budget proposes finding $845 billion in savings over 10 years from Medicare as we know it. But $269 billion of that figure is reclassified under the Department of Health and Human Services, bringing the Medicare cuts to $575 billion. As Vox explained, the administration says it will achieve these cost reductions by targeting wasteful spending and provider payments and lowering prescription drug costs.” [Vox, 3/12/19]

Vox: “Mick Mulvaney Brags That He Tricked Trump Into Proposing Social Security Cuts.” Trump’s FY20 budget proposed spending $26 billion less on Social Security programs. “And Mr. Trump proposed spending $26 billion less on Social Security programs, the federal retirement program, including a $10 billion cut to the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which provides benefits to disabled workers.” [Vox, 9/1/17; New York Times, 3/11/19]

Trump Also Proposed $72.5 Billion In Cuts To SSDI And Supplemental Security Income In His FY19 Budget. “President Trump’s 2018 budget proposed $72.5 billion in cuts to SSDI and to Supplemental Security Income, another program for disabled people, over 10 years.” [Vox, 2/6/18]

Myth: Trump Will Grow The Economy With Tax Cuts And Protect Medicare And Social Security

Trump: “A Vote For Trump Is A Vote For America First And It’s A Vote To Protect Medicare And Social Security And Lower Your Taxes.” According to a Media Matters report on September 23, 2016, Trump claimed on his campaign website that his tax cut agenda would boost growth “under a dynamic growth model.” Trump made a similar claim at a campaign stop in Ocala, Florida on October 12, 2016 stating that voting for Trump is “a vote to protect Medicare and Social Security and lower your taxes.” [Media Matters, 9/23/16; Trump Campaign Speech, Ocala, FL, 10/12/16]

Fact: Trump’s Tax Giveaway To Corporations Didn’t Help Seniors, It Exploded The Deficit

New York Times: “Trump’s Tax Cut Won’t Power the Growth He Predicts, Officials Concede.” [New York Times, 3/19/19]

The GOP Tax Bill And The Trump-Supported Repeal Of The Individual Mandate Helped Exacerbate Social Security’s Revenue Shortfall. “Last year’s Republican tax bill, which cut taxes on Social Security benefits, helped exacerbate the shortfall. So did the Trump-supported repeal of the individual mandate in so-called Obamacare.” [Associated Press, 9/10/18]

Trump’s Backing Of The Repeal Of The Individual Mandate Led To Medicare Needing To Pay Hospitals More Money To Reimburse Costs Of Health Care For A Growing Number Of Uninsured People. “The 2017 tax law also repealed the individual mandate that was required under the Affordable Care Act. That has led to Medicare needing to pay hospitals more money to reimburse costs of health care for a growing number of uninsured people.” [New York Times, 9/7/18]

Myth: Trump Will Lower Drug Prices

Trump: “You’ll be seeing drug prices falling very substantially in the not-too-distant future, and it’s going to be beautiful.” According to The Atlantic, Trump has claimed repeatedly that he would lower drug prices, and that the cost of prescriptions would fall “very substantially in the not-too-distant future.” According to Politico, Trump had even endorsed plans to lower costs, including having Medicare negotiate drug prices. [Politico, 1/11/17; The Atlantic, 5/10/19]

Fact: Trump Proposed Increasing The Costs Of Drugs For Some Low-Income Seniors On Medicare

Around 4.5 Million Medicare Beneficiaries Would Pay About $1,000 More For Their Prescription Drugs Under Trump’s FY19 Budget Proposal. “Some Medicare beneficiaries would pay more for their prescription drugs under President Donald Trump’s budget even as the sickest patients save thousands of dollars, a complex trade-off that may make it harder to sell Congress on the plan in an election year … But about 4.5 million seniors in the group just behind them could end up spending more of their own money. That’s because the budget proposes a change in how Medicare accounts for manufacturer discounts received by patients whose total bills range between $3,750 and $8,418. They could wind up paying about $1,000 more.” [Associated Press, 2/13/18]

Trump YR20 Budget Proposed To Make It Harder For Some Low-Income Seniors To Afford Their Prescriptions. “Retirees with high prescription drug costs might want to keep an eye on President Trump’s hoped-for changes to Medicare … On top of eliminating help with generic drug costs for low-income Medicare recipients, the budget would stop allowing manufacturer discounts to count toward a beneficiary’s out-of-pocket costs during the so-called coverage gap under Part D.” [CNBC, 3/11/19]

Myth: Trump’s Health Care Reforms Won’t Hurt Seniors

If you have thought Trump’s attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, won’t hurt seniors, you’d be wrong.

Fact: Repealing The ACA Would Increase Costs For Those On Medicare

The Trump Administration Is Pushing The Courts To Strike Down The Entire ACA. “The Trump administration formally declared its opposition to the entire Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, arguing in a federal appeals court filing that the signature Obama-era legislation was unconstitutional and should be struck down.” [New York Times, 5/1/19]

Without The ACA, Medicare Beneficiaries Would Incur Increased Costs For Preventive Care And Prescription Drugs. “Medicare beneficiaries would have to pay more for preventive care, like a wellness visit or diabetes check, which are now free. They would also have to pay more toward their prescription drugs. About five million people faced the so-called Medicare doughnut hole, or coverage gap, in 2016, which the A.C.A. sought to eliminate. If the law were overturned, that coverage gap would widen again.” [New York Times, 3/26/19]

Many Seniors Would Likely Spend Around $2,000 Or More In Out-Of-Pocket Drug Costs Each Year If The Medicare Part D Coverage Gap Reopened. “Without Obamacare, many seniors would likely spend around $2,000 or more in out-of-pocket drug costs each year, said Juliette Cubanski, associate director of Medicare policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. That’s because the ACA required drugmakers to provide big discounts to seniors in the coverage gap phase of their Medicare Part D benefit. In 2016, more than 5 million Medicare recipients reached the coverage gap, with drugmakers providing $5.7 billion in discounts to offset the costs of their medicines, Cubanski said.” [Politico, 12/17/18]

Upon Arguing That The Entire ACA Should Be Struck Down, Neither The White House Nor Republicans In Congress Offered A New Plan To Replace The ACA. “But neither the White House nor Republicans in Congress have offered a new plan to replace the comprehensive Obama-era law, which was passed nearly a decade ago and has grown in popularity since Trump was elected.” [Washington Post, 3/26/19]