Republicans have fended off accusations for years that they'd gut Medicare for seniors and end the program "as we know it."
Not Ben Carson. The former neurosurgeon acknowledges he would abolish the program altogether.
Carson, who now leads the GOP field in Iowa according to the latest Quinnipiac Poll, would eliminate the program that provides health care to 49 million senior citizens, as well as Medicaid, and replace it with a system of cradle-to-grave savings accounts which would be funded with $2,000 a year in government contributions. While rivals have been pummeled for proposing less radical changes, Carson hasn't faced the same scrutiny -- and his continued traction in polls has left GOP strategists and conservative health care wonks scratching their heads.
"This isn’t a borderline issue. The politics of this are horrific," said Doug Holtz-Eakin, head of the American Action Forum and health care adviser to Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.
Carson's stance on the third-rail issue of Medicare is especially risky given his strength among elderly voters. In Iowa, Carson draws a quarter of the senior vote -- more than double any other candidate except Donald Trump, with whom he’s statistically tied among seniors. Carson’s support is even higher among voters between the ages of 55 and 64, who are on the verge of Medicare eligibility. He draws 34 percent of that age group, double Trump’s level of support, according to the Quinnipiac poll.
Carson's GOP rivals are largely holding their fire so far. Trump's campaign declined to comment, as did the campaigns of Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio. A spokeswoman for Bobby Jindal noted the Louisiana governor's support for reforming -- but preserving -- Medicare and Medicaid.
“Without change, they will go bankrupt,” said the spokeswoman, Shannon Dirmann. “Abolishing them is bad policy.”
he former neurosurgeon regularly talks up his savings account plan on the campaign trail and calls for the repeal of Obamacare, but he doesn't typically emphasize that moving dollars out of "traditional health care" means eliminating Medicare and Medicaid too.
"I have suggested that we provide the ability for anyone to have a health savings account from the day they are born until the day they die," he said during a speech at Cedarville University on Sept. 22. "We’ll pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with."
When pressed on his position in May by CNBC's John Harwood, Carson said Americans would support the elimination of Medicare when presented with the facts of his plan.
"When people are able to see how much more freedom they will have, and how much more flexibility they will have, and how much more choice they would have, I think it's going to be a no-brainer," he said.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/ben-carson-medicare-medicaid-215055#ixzz3pq0JqRtE
