During his recent State of the Union address, President Joe Biden shamelessly lied to the American people about the priorities of the House Republican Conference in the 118th Congress. His sorry accusations – while entirely predictable – couldn’t be farther from the truth. In our Commitment to America, House Republicans pledged that we would protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare so that our seniors can retire with dignity and live long, healthy lives. Ironically, the only person who has approved steep cuts to Medicare this year is none other than President Joe Biden himself.
According to a notice from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Biden administration has proposed an average 2.3 percent payment cut to Medicare Advantage, which would slash more than $4.7 billion from this vital program that serves over 30 million American seniors. This reckless decision would force insurance companies to suspend coverage for millions of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries and withdraw from the marketplace altogether, inevitably increasing premiums, out-of-pocket costs, and deductibles.
The basic laws of economic theory posit that fewer choices result in higher costs. The healthcare ecosystem is no different. By increasing operational costs for health insurers, our seniors will suffer from subpar care, endure longer wait times, and perhaps even lose their favorite doctor – a scary preview of the ills of socialized healthcare.
However, President Biden’s overt cuts to Medicare are not the only threats facing our seniors. Willfully ignorant to the ramifications of his wasteful agenda, he flooded our economy with $6 trillion in new government spending that fueled record inflation and sharply increased spending on Social Security; an adjustment our seniors absolutely need in this poor economy. Now, our Medicare and Social Security trust funds face insolvency far earlier than originally projected.
BIDEN WILL KEEP CLAIMING GOP WANTS TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE INTO THE 2024 CAMPAIGN
Even worse, record inflation also increases our interest payments on our $31 trillion debt, which diverts scarce dollars from replenishing these depleted trust funds to financing our interest obligations – not even touching the principal amount. Ultimately, between significant advancements in healthcare research and improvements in life expectancy as a result, we must safeguard every dollar possible to fund vital healthcare services for our seniors. Government waste only exacerbates the hefty challenges of this critical task.
Complicating the already dire situation, the Biden administration also paid able-bodied workers to stay home and collect a paycheck long after the COVID-19 pandemic had subsided. This ill-advised policy discouraged capable individuals from re-entering the workforce and contributed to our distressing trust fund drought. At one point, as many as 46 million Americans received unemployment benefits during the pandemic, which undoubtedly strained the long-term solvency of our Medicare and Social Security trust funds. Additionally, according to the inspector general of the Labor Department, roughly $191 billion in unemployment claims were fraudulently dispersed.
This astonishing figure accounts for over half the amount that the federal government spends on Medicare Advantage annually. To reverse this trend, we need to reward hard work through a simpler, fairer tax code, prevent taxpayer dollars from subsidizing laziness, and hold criminals who defraud American taxpayers accountable. For the president’s awareness, these are commonsense initiatives that Republicans proudly support.
President Biden can lie all he wants about Republican priorities, but he can’t change the facts. At his direction, our nation’s seniors will face serious Medicare cuts that jeopardize their health and wellbeing. In the House Republican Conference, our promise is ironclad. We will strengthen Social Security and Medicare for our seniors while ending wasteful spending, combating inflation, and curbing our debt crisis. America’s seniors can rest assured knowing that House Republicans will always protect their hard-earned benefits. It’s exactly what they deserve.
