The headlines following this week's Medicare and Social Security trustees' report are dire: "A crucial Medicare trust fund will run out three years earlier than predicted, new report says." Essentially, the trustees find that the part of Medicare that reimburses hospitals for caring for seniors and the disabled is likely to be depleted three years sooner than projected last year. That news led, of course, to gleeful tweets from Republicans like House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) about how "something that is unsustainable one day stops," and that "There is only one solution and it is to reform entitlement programs for future beneficiaries." Shocking, huh?
The trustees' report also makes crystal clear why this is happening: Republican actions like Trump's ending the DACA program, repealing the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and the massive tax cuts.
First, they mention that Trump’s rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program that allowed children brought to the United States illegally by their parents to stay and become productive members of society, will reduce the number of workers paying into the program. [...]
The tax cuts enacted by Republicans and signed into law by Trump in December also will have a negative effect on Social Security in the near term, chiefly by reducing the program’s income from the taxation of benefits. […]
The Medicare trustees note that the Affordable Care Act resulted in “significantly fewer uninsured” Americans treated at hospitals, but that trend now is likely to be reversed.
Undermining Medicare and Social Security was exactly what Republicans had in mind with these policies. And as for Trump's promises to protect the programs?
Go ahead, Republicans. Keep talking about how cutting Social Security and Medicare is one of your priorities. Make Trump break his promise. That’ll work out really well for you in November.