Wake Up, Seniors

Created
Sat, 07/12/2024 - 08:30
Updated
Sat, 07/12/2024 - 08:30
I wrote the other day about the Elon and Vivek show planning to cut the so-called “entitlements.” That plan is becoming clearer by the day. Philip Bump writes: Data from the White House Office of Management and Budget indicates that about 12 percent of federal spending this year will be on Medicare, about 1 in 8 dollars the government disburses. Spending on Medicare is equivalent to 95 percent of the amount spent on national defense. This means that those interested in cutting federal spending — like President-elect Donald Trump’s allies (and fellow billionaires) Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — were almost necessarily going to eventually arrive at the idea that the government should spend less on programs such as Medicare and Medicare specifically. They like to talk about how they will trim federal spending by targeting the federal workforce, but firing every single nonmilitary employee would eliminate only about 4 percent of the budget. If your plan is to cut a third of the budget (as Musk has said he wants to do)? You’ve got to aim higher than that. On Thursday, as YouGov was asking people about their insurance coverage, Fox Business was reporting that such cuts were under consideration. “Nothing is sacrosanct,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) said after a meeting with Musk, Ramaswamy and Republican lawmakers. “Nothing. They’re going to put everything on the table” — which, the Fox host noted, included Social Security and Medicare. During the campaign, YouGov asked voters to evaluate the importance of different health-care issues. Nearly three-quarters of those age 65…