As the White House and Republicans in Congress gear up for negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling, how to pay for senior health care could be a sticking point, even if cuts are 'off the table.'
It's actually fairly small. Last year, for the first time, Medicare was given legal permission to negotiate the price of drugs. There is a short list of drugs. This budget would make the list longer, and it would have those negotiations happen faster. It would also raise a tax on very high-income earners — those earning over $400,000. The Biden budget would raise that Medicare tax from 3.8% to 5% on those high earners.
MARTIN: Republicans have said that they can balance the budget over the next decade, but won't touch Medicare. Is that a credible stance?It is, but only if they go after Medicaid — the actually larger public health insurance program for people with low incomes — and the subsidies on the Affordable Care Act, which the president has now also said he won't go after.
MARTIN: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has already said publicly that Biden's plan to increase the Medicare tax on high earners,"will not see the light of day." So whatWell, at some point, you know, the two parties are going to have to come together before the Medicare trust fund runs out of money. This is not the first time we've been within this close period where the trust fund could run out of money. It's happened several times in the past.
MARTIN: The talks over the debt ceiling are approaching. The leaders of both parties have said that Medicare is off the table. But is it conceivable that Medicare won't be implicated at some point in these talks?No. Of course Medicare is going to be implicated at some point in these talks. First of all, what Republican leaders say is not necessarily what all of the Republican rank and file will do.
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