On Medicare’s 59th Anniversary, FL Dems Again Attack Rick Scott on Issue • Florida Phoenix

Originally, it called for ending all federal programs after five years unless Congress voted to reauthorize them, including Social Security and Medicare. But after mounting criticism from Democrats and fellow Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Scott revised his plan in February 2023 to exclude those two popular social programs.

“I believe all federal law should be terminated within five years, with specific exceptions for Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans benefits, and other essential services,” Scott wrote in an op-ed published online by the Washington Examiner. “If a law is worth keeping, Congress can re-enact it,” he said.

Despite that announcement, Florida Democrats warned that seniors should not simply trust everything Scott says on the issue.

“Maya Angelou said it best: When people show you who they are, you have to believe them the first time,” said Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a South Florida state representative. “He’s been on a relentless attack on Medicare, and you only have to look at Project 2025, which is the blueprint for another Trump term, to know exactly where Republicans are going on this.”

Project 2025 is a 922-page policy plan written by members of the conservative Heritage Foundation. The plan calls for making Medicare Advantage the default enrollment option for seniors. That’s a version of the program offered through private insurers that has been criticized for restricting access to narrow provider networks and high claim denial rates.

Project 2025 also calls for a “competitive bidding model” and says the existing risk-adjustment model would be reconfigured. It would prohibit Medicare from negotiating drug prices, repealing that ability that was adopted in the Inflation Reduction Act. That would eliminate the current $35 co-pay cap for Medicare beneficiaries.

“If that law is repealed, Medicare insulin prices will go up again,” Wasserman Schultz said.

Denial

Donald Trump says he rejects Project 2025. The Phoenix reached out to Scott’s campaign to hear his thoughts on Project 2025.

“Democrats believe that if you say ‘Project 2025’ three times like Tinkerbell, all the BS they claim is in the plan will magically appear,” spokesman Will Hampson said. “The reality is that only President Donald Trump will set the policy agenda when he becomes the 47th president, and Senator Scott looks forward to supporting that agenda in the Senate.”

Hampson rejected any suggestion that Scott would harm Medicare.

“Both President Trump and Senator Scott have made it 100% clear that any cuts to Medicare or Social Security are unacceptable and completely off the table,” he said in an email. “Biden and Harris are the ones who cut Medicare Advantage this year. Desperate Democrats like Kamala Harris and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell should find another lie to spread.”

According to Axios, the Biden administration announced plans in April to cut base payments to Medicare Advantage plans by an average of 0.16% next year.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried also referenced Scott’s comments in a podcast during the Republican National Convention, in which he said he wants to see the federal budget cut to “half its size,” which some economists say would inevitably undermine Medicare and Social Security.

“Just last week, Rick Scott came out with a new proposal to cut the federal budget, and every economist in the country has said there is no way to do that without touching Medicare and Social Security. There is no way,” Fried said.

“So now they’re just wrapping it up in a different way, because they know that saying the silent parts out loud is unpopular. So now they’re doing it in a new package and a new bow.”

Seniors from Florida

Given Florida’s large senior population, it certainly makes political sense for Democrats to try to take on Scott on Medicare, despite the fact that he has rejected the idea of ​​a five-year overhaul of Medicare and Social Security.

But such changes are being pushed through by members of both political parties.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has already reversed her previous stance against fracking. Campaign officials told The New York Times last week that she now supports the Biden administration’s budget requests for more money for border security. She no longer supports single-payer health insurance. And while she still supports a ban on assault weapons, she does not believe the federal government should buy them. These are all reversals from positions she took when she ran for president in 2019.

A University of North Florida poll released Tuesday showed Scott with a 47%-43% lead over Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. Another 10% were undecided.