Jeb Bush wants to get rid of Medicare. Seriously.
That’s what Bush just told an “Americans for Prosperity” gathering sponsored by the Koch Brothers. In what could be one of the most damaging comments of the 2016 presidential campaign, Bush said “we need to figure out a way to phase out this program” – and it was all caught on video.
We’ve always known that Republicans want to kill Medicare and leave seniors to fend for themselves. But it’s rare for someone – especially an establishment candidate like Jeb Bush – to say it so openly.
Polling shows that Americans support expanding Medicare to everyone – not ending it. Instead of Medicare for All, however, Jeb Bush wants Medicare for None.
But that’s not all. At a town hall in New Hampshire last month, Jeb Bush also called for the privatization of Social Security – apparently forgetting the disaster that was his brother’s failed attempt to privatize Social Security in 2005.
The choice is clear: To not only save Medicare and Social Security – but protect and expand these vital programs that Americans strongly support – we’ve got to stop Jeb Bush and Republicans like him in 2016.
Jeb Bush claims that he wants to protect seniors who are already receiving Medicare benefits. But in that same speech this week, he praised Paul Ryan’s extremist budget.
If Paul Ryan and Jeb Bush get their way, Medicare would be gutted. People 65 and over could see their health care costs double.
The 2016 election will decide whether we protect and expand Social Security and Medicare, or whether Republicans finally get the chance to end them both. That’s why progressives need to fight back and make sure that Democratic Party candidates who support more Social Security and Medicare, not less, prevail on Election Day.
Wach the video
May the natural forces of the universe protect us from the likes of Paul Ryan and Jeb W. Bush.