WASHINGTON (AP) – The chairman of a key House committee is pledging that congressional Republicans will change Medicare in order to save it.
GOP Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, head of the Ways and Means Committee, insisted Thursday that Republicans won’t be deterred by the politics, even though Donald Trump won election as president on promises to protect the popular health care program for older Americans, and Democrats are already warning of a “war on seniors.”
“Democrat tactics of ‘Mediscare’ have been around a long time. They’ve stopped working,” Brady told The Associated Press in an interview in the Capitol. “Voters have figured out Republicans want to save Medicare for the long term, and they know that those who say everything’s just fine with it aren’t leveling with them.”
But Brady also said the GOP will move cautiously on Medicare, starting with smaller changes. And he declined to say when the party might try to pass “premium support,” the controversial approach that would, over time, remake Medicare into a voucher-like program that would force seniors to buy health insurance on the open market.
Critics say such coverage would take away the “Medicare guarantee” and give seniors subsidies whose value won’t keep up with inflation.