Monday, July 1st, 2024
ARIZONA -– On the 58th anniversary of Medicare services beginning, Kari Lake “proposes massive cuts to […] Medicare,” jeopardizing health care coverage for approximately 65 million Americans and threatening to spike costs for Arizonans.
Lake said “obviously we have to cut spending and […] I think we can slash the federal government by 50%. Most of it is just grossly overweighted.” In order to reduce the federal budget by 50%, Lake would need to cut $3.1 trillion in spending, which would “gut Medicaid, Medicare, and veterans’ benefits.”
Lake would jeopardize healthcare for over 1.4 million Arizonans on Medicare, almost 1.5 million Arizonans on Medicaid, including children, and nearly half a million veterans living in Arizona.
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American Journal News: Arizona Republican Kari Lake proposes massive cuts to Medicaid and Medicare
- In a May 23 forum, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake said the federal budget should be slashed by 50%. Her proposal would gut Medicaid, Medicare, and veteran’s benefits […]
- Lake pledged to never cut Social Security and said she would shore up the program by making massive cuts to other parts of the federal budget.
- “Obviously we have to cut spending and we will do that under President Trump,” Lake said. “I think we can slash the federal government by 50%. Most of it is just grossly overweighted.”
- In 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal budget was approximately $6.1 trillion. Social Security, which cost $1.3 trillion, accounted for approximately 20% of that total. Another $700 billion was spent on interest payments to the national debt, which are mandatory to avert a government default. That leaves approximately $4.1 trillion that is eligible to be cut under Lake’s proposal.
- To hit Lake’s 50% goal, $3.1 trillion would need to be cut from the remaining $4.1 trillion. There is no way to do this without cutting Medicare, which costs $838 billion, Medicaid, which costs $616 billion, and veterans’ affairs, which costs $301 billion.
- Approximately 65 million people, most of them 65 and older, receive their health insurance through Medicare. Another 83 million low-income and disabled individuals rely on Medicaid for their health coverage […]