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medicaid
Project 2025 Wants to Put a Dagger in the Heart of the American Dream
This dangerous, sweeping takeover of a society that’s made huge strides toward equality over many decades threatens to take us back to a “Gilded Age,” where only the very wealthiest white families and corporations benefit from government policy.
Sep 13, 2024
Maybe you’ve heard some of the buzz about “Project 2025.” What is it — and what would it mean for you and your family?
Project 2025 is a proposed “transition plan for a new Republican administration” put together by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank. It’s an in-depth list of what conservative groups will push for in the event of a Trump victory in the fall.
And it poses serious dangers to families and the middle class. It would drastically defund social programs that millions rely on, including Medicaid, Medicare, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It would defund public schools, roll back housing assistance, and cut regulations that protect consumers and the environment.
It’s a dense document, but here are six key takeaways on this pending catastrophe for working people.
1. Millions of Americans will lose health care.
Project 2025 not only slashes Medicaid but would entirely eliminate the Affordable Care Act, the popular healthcare program that helps Americans afford care and guarantees coverage to customers with pre-existing medical conditions. This would cause millions to lose their coverage.
Though we have yet to fully realize the dream of equality and justice for all, we can only achieve it by expanding the hard-won, effective social progress we’ve achieved so far.
The plan also rolls back the Inflation Reduction Act provision allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. Currently, the law caps life-saving insulin at $35 per month and caps out-of-pocket Medicare costs at $2,000 annually. Care for seniors will get a lot more expensive if those protections are taken away.
2. Children will be sicker, poorer, and hungrier.
Children, especially those in low-income households, would be harmed the most. Their reduced access to health care could lead to higher rates of illnesses, developmental delays, long-term inequities in opportunities, and even preventable deaths.
Proposed cuts to food assistance programs, such as free school meals and SNAP, would increase food insecurity for millions of Americans — especially children. And children who experience hunger and malnutrition are at a greater risk of long-term cognitive and physical developmental challenges, which can poorly affect their life outcomes.
3. Public schools will suffer.
Project 2025 calls to eliminate the Department of Education, which funds programs for students with disabilities and meals for hungry kids, helps parents get before care and after care, enforces civil rights protections, and helps people pursue postsecondary education.
This extremist agenda would also eliminate Head Start. The subsidized preschool program, which has served over 40 million kids, promotes early childhood development and provides childcare to parents who are working or studying to escape poverty.
Instead, public funding would be funneled into wasteful private school vouchers and charter schools.
4. Millions of families will be criminalized.
Mixed-status families, which include both citizens and undocumented immigrants, face the unthinkable reality of a loved one being deported under Project 2025. And families that include LGBTQ+ members face the dystopian reality of discrimination and criminalization.
5. Food, water, and air will be poisoned.
Project 2025 also drastically reduces or eliminates regulations that protect our communities, workplaces, and environment. This is especially dangerous for people in low-income areas and communities of color, which are more often located near industrial areas and exposed to pollution and environmental hazards.
6. Only the wealthy win.
Project 2025’s other main goal is yet more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, which would starve public investments and codify inequality by only helping those who need it the least.
This dangerous, sweeping takeover of a society that’s made huge strides toward equality over many decades threatens to take us back to a “Gilded Age,” where only the very wealthiest white families and corporations benefit from government policy.
Though we have yet to fully realize the dream of equality and justice for all, we can only achieve it by expanding the hard-won, effective social progress we’ve achieved so far. Project 2025 is a blueprint to end that American Dream.
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'We're Not Going Back': Seniors Agree with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz
We’re not going back on Social Security. We're not going back on Medicare. We're not going back on lower drug prices.
Aug 09, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, have proclaimed, “We’re not going back!” Seniors and our families agree. We are definitely not going back on Social Security, Medicare, or drug prices. Rather, we are going forward. Forward to expanded Social Security, expanded Medicare, and lower drug prices.
We’re not going back to half of all seniors with below-poverty incomes. Before Social Security, people worked as long as they could, but the fast pace of many jobs “wears out its workers with great rapidity,” a commentator noted in 1912. “The young, the vigorous, the adaptable, the supple of limb, the alert of mind, are in demand,” he explained. “Middle age is old age.”
Once a job was lost, an older worker could seldom find a new one. Parents, as they aged, routinely moved in with their adult children. Those who had no children or whose children were unable or unwilling to support them wound up in the poorhouse. Literally. The poorhouse was not some ancient Dickensian invention; it was a very real means of subsistence for elderly people in the world before Social Security.
We are going forward. Forward to expanded Social Security, expanded Medicare, and lower drug prices.
When Social Security became law, every state but New Mexico had poorhouses. The vast majority of the residents were elderly. Most of the “inmates,” as they were generally labeled, entered the poorhouse late in life, having been independent wage earners until that point. In 1910, a Massachusetts Commission found that 92 percent of the residents entered after age 60.
The poorhouse was a fate to be dreaded. Even in as progressive a state as New York, the conditions were abysmal. In 1930, the New York State Commission on Old Age Security found that “worthy people are thrown together with whatever dregs of society happen to need the institution’s shelter at the moment…Privacy, even in the most intimate affairs of life, is impossible; married couples are quite generally separated; and all the inmates are regimented as though in a prison or penal colony.”
A return to that may seem impossible, but it is not. If Social Security did not exist today, more than forty percent of those aged 65 and over would once again have below-poverty incomes.
We’re not going back! Before Social Security, the death of one parent frequently meant the breakup of a family. Orphanages housed children with a living parent who had been unable to afford them, when the other parent died. People who became disabled and could no longer work routinely could be found begging in the street.
Those families now have guaranteed monthly benefits, thanks to Social Security, which lifts almost a million children and more than 5.3 million adults between the ages of 18 and 65 out of poverty. And our Social Security system lessens the depth of poverty for millions more.
Republicans want to take us back. They want to end Medicare as we know it.
But Republican politicians want to take us back. They have put out plans that not only would cut Social Security, but end it as we know it. We cannot let them take us back.
Instead of going backwards, we can and must go forward. Vice President Kamala Harris and her Democratic Party have plans to expand Social Security for seniors, for those with disabilities and for families experiencing the death of a provider.
In fact, when Harris was in the Senate, she was an original cosponsor of the Social Security Expansion Act, and when her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, was in the House of Representatives, he was an original cosponsor of the Social Security 2100 Act. Both bills expand benefits across-the-board, update the cost of living adjustment, so benefits don’t erode over time, expand benefits in other important ways, and ensure that those benefits can be paid on time and in full for the foreseeable future, by requiring the uber-wealthy to pay their fair share.
And we’re not going back to a time without guaranteed government-provided health insurance for seniors and people with disabilities. Before President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law in 1965, most seniors were not able to find health insurance at any cost. For those who could, the coverage was inadequate and the cost was exhorbitant.
We can and must go forward. Harris and her Democratic colleagues want to expand Medicare. The essential benefits of vision, hearing and dental services must be added and the need for supplemental insurance must be eliminated. And Medicare should be extended to children and all ages in between.
We’re not going back to Big Pharma ripping off Medicare beneficiaries. For years, politicians promised to rein in Big Pharma and empower Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. The Biden-Harris administration got it done.
If you too are determined to not go back on these important freedoms, the choice in November is clear.
Republicans want to take us back. They want to end Medicare as we know it. They want to replace it with vouchers, forcing seniors to fend for themselves in a hostile marketplace. Additionally, they have promised to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and let Big Pharma charge whatever outrageously high prescription drug prices they decide. We’re not going back to Medicare beneficiaries paying more than $35 per month out-of-pocket for insulin. We’re not going back to Medicare beneficiaries paying more than $2,000 out-of-pocket per year for Medicare Part D prescription drug spending.
Instead, we will go forward to a future of even lower prices for even more prescription drugs. And that future must include providing those lower prices for all Americans.
We’re not going back to a world without the Affordable Care Act. We’re not going back to a world without Medicaid expansion, without coverage for “pre-existing conditions.”
That is just some of what is at stake in November.
We’re not going back to a world where Republicans hand out tax breaks to billionaires. We want to protect Social Security and expand benefits, paid for by requiring billionaires and other uber-wealthy to pay their fair share.
Social Security Works is proud to stand with Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Walz in the fight for freedom. The freedom to retire with dignity and independence. The freedom to get the medical care we need. The freedom to get the drugs our doctors prescribe.
If you too are determined to not go back on these important freedoms, the choice in November is clear. Let’s unite and usher in a future that takes us forward together.
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Kamala Harris Is the Winning Choice for Seniors
As president, Harris will expand Social Security and Medicare and ensure that all benefits will continue to be paid in full and on time for the foreseeable future by requiring billionaires to pay their fair share.
Jul 24, 2024
Joe Biden has been the best president for seniors in over half a century. Kamala Harris will be even better.
As president, Biden has been an unwavering protector of Social Security and Medicare. In his 2024 State of the Union Address, he made it crystal clear that he would shut down any Republican attempts to create a closed-door commission to cut Social Security and Medicare. Indeed, he promised, “If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age, I will stop them.”
Harris will be as fierce a defender, and she will do more. She will expand Social Security and Medicare and ensure that all benefits will continue to be paid in full and on time for the foreseeable future by requiring billionaires to pay their fair share.
Vice President Harris, President Biden, and the Democrats have already laid out their shared policy vision for a future Harris administration. It proves that a focus on seniors’ policy is written into the DNA of a Democratic administration. The draft 2024 Democratic Party Platform states:
The right to a secure and dignified retirement is one of the bedrock principles of American life. Before Social Security, almost half of American seniors lived in poverty… Democrats changed that: In 1935, we passed Social Security; in 1965, we signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. These are more than government programs—they’re a promise that we’ve made as a country, that after a lifetime of hard work, people deserve to retire with dignity and security...
Trump and his MAGA allies are shredding that sacred trust, and saying they’ll cut Social Security to give billionaires another tax cut…Trump has called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and warned, “There’s a lot you can do in terms of cutting.” As president, he tried to slash both Social Security and Medicare programs in every budget, and to gut Medicaid, which provides home care to over 7 million seniors and people with disabilities. House Republicans have vowed to cut Social Security by over $1.5 trillion, to raise the retirement age, and to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, threatening the program…
Democrats won’t let that happen. We’ll strengthen the program and expand benefits by asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. We also oppose any actions to cut Medicare benefits. We’ll look to expand traditional Medicare coverage to include dental, vision, and hearing services, which are so key to health and quality of life, by making the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.
This is completely in line with what Harris championed when she was in the Senate. She was among the earliest cosponsors of the Social Security Expansion Act. That legislation expands Social Security by $2,400 a year, enacts a more accurate cost-of-living increase so benefits don’t erode over time, and much more. Importantly, the legislation raises enough dedicated revenue to ensure that all benefits will be paid in full and on time throughout the 21st century and beyond.
And she is equally strong in her determination to protect and expand Medicare. As Senator, she championed expanding Medicare, including the all-important, life-altering, and life-saving coverage of dental, hearing, and vision services. She will fight for that and other crucial expansions included in the Democratic platform, when she becomes president.
For years, politicians have talked about giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. She, together with President Biden, got it done. They took on Big Pharma and won.
Thanks to the Biden-Harris administration, out-of-pocket insulin costs have been capped at $35 per month, hearing aids are cheaper, and inhaler prices are lower. For the first time in history, the overall out-of-pocket cost for prescription drugs will be capped for Medicare beneficiaries.
Harris will continue that progress and more. Again, the draft 2024 Democratic Party Platform highlights:
For the first time, Medicare now also has the ability to negotiate lower drug prices... It started doing so this year, beginning with 10 commonly used medications… Democrats will push to add at least 50 drugs a year to that list, lowering prices for 500 drugs this decade. Medicare Part-D is also working to cap cost-sharing for life-saving generics at $2 a dose; Democrats will make this mandatory for all Medicare beneficiaries.
The administration is also leading the charge against Big Pharma price gouging, by requiring drugmakers that raise prices faster than inflation to pay the difference back to Medicare, which will then pass savings on to consumers. This will protect over 750,000 seniors, who could save as much as $4,500 per over-priced dose… The administration also enacted rules to finally make hearing aids available over-the-counter, saving millions of Americans up to $3,000 a pair. And Democrats will continue the administration’s work to require that any drugs developed with taxpayer dollars be available to taxpayers, including at reasonable prices. Democrats will keep working to lower drug prices by requiring more transparency from the “pharmacy benefit manager” middlemen who generally decide which drugs are covered by insurance and bought by doctors, and how much they cost…
“All these actions will benefit family budgets. And they’ll boost the federal budget, too—reducing the deficit by $160 billion over the next 10 years, as Medicare no longer has to pay Big Pharma exorbitant prices.
And there’s more. The Biden-Harris administration 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. In addition, the Biden-Harris administration has forced shady financial advisers to stop ripping off working people planning for retirement.
Not surprisingly, as a senator, Harris compiled a 100% lifetime rating from our friends at the Alliance for Retired Americans. That in a nutshell is a reminder that she will be the champion of seniors, when she becomes president. She will continue the Biden-Harris administration’s progress and expand upon it.
President Harris will also be a champion for working families, as she always has been. Republicans seek to generate warfare between generations. Only in Washington, do Republican politicians, self-proclaimed protectors of family values, believe that grandparents and grandchildren are—and should be—at war. Harris knows better. She understands that Americans live in families. Grandparents are not better off if their grandchildren are drowning in student debt. Grandchildren are not better off if their grandparents see their Social Security benefits cut, so that they are unable to live independently, with dignity, if they so choose.
Consistent with that recognition and support for all generations, Harris has championed paid family and medical leave, as part of a comprehensive care agenda.
In stark contrast, Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are a serious threat to our earned benefits and to our families. Although Trump claimed in the 2016 Republican presidential primary that he would be the only Republican not to cut Social Security, every one of his budgets, once he became president, proposed deep cuts.
Trump’s eagerness to cut Social Security, despite his current rhetoric, should not be a surprise. Before running for president, Trump trashed Social Security, calling it a Ponzi scheme. He supported privatizing Social Security and raising the retirement age, with the condescending remark, “How many times will you really want to take that trailer to the Grand Canyon?”
And he’s no better on Medicare or prescription drug prices. In 2012, Donald Trump praised proposals by former Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan that would have destroyed Medicare by turning it into a voucher program, forcing seniors to fend for themselves in a hostile market.
Moreover Trump has
attacked the Inflation Reduction Act, the historic law that for the first time gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, capped out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month, and more.
If elected again, Donald Trump will be surrounded by a Republican Party that is exceptionally eager to cut Social Security and Medicare. Earlier this year,
three-fourths of all the Republicans in the House of Representatives supported a budget that would cut Social Security by $1.5 trillion, including raising the retirement age, in just the next decade.
That is the crucial choice facing voters this November. A vote for Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress is a vote to cut our earned benefits, increase our costs for prescription drugs, and throw more tax breaks at billionaires. A vote for Democrats is a vote to expand benefits, lower prescription drug prices, and require those billionaires to start paying their fair share.
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