Staying Fit
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As we have during past presidential elections, AARP reached out to the candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties to talk with us about the issues important to you. Both President Trump and former Vice President Biden graciously agreed to live phone interviews, which took place in late August. We asked many of the same questions of each, and when appropriate, we followed up. We allowed the candidates to present their views and positions without commenting on the accuracy of their claims. The interviews were edited for clarity and length.
Both candidates were eager and engaged in our conversations, which focused first on Social Security, then moved on to Medicare, nursing homes and other complex but vital topics. For the record, the candidates’ responses should not be interpreted as an AARP endorsement of any given policy position. AARP is nonpartisan and neither supports nor opposes candidates for office.
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But what AARP strongly believes in is your right to vote, and the importance of exercising that right. To help, we've created how-to-vote guides for 53 U.S. states and territories. You can also go to aarp.org/election2020 for full election coverage, including AARP's positions on key issues.
— Robert Love, editor in chief, AARP Bulletin
More than half of all retired Americans rely on Social Security for at least half of their income. If reelected, how will you ensure that Social Security benefits are not cut?
Social Security
TRUMP: We'll never cut Social Security, and you can rely on that. One thing you need is a strong country. We had a really strong country until we had the pandemic, the China virus. We were doing a level that we've never done before and Social Security was strong, and our country was strong. Right now, we're coming back. I'm looking at numbers now that look like the best quarter ever in terms of hiring people. I will tell you that we will never cut our Social Security. We will guard it with everything we have.
You have said you would like to “terminate the payroll tax” if you win reelection. As you know, payroll taxes fund Social Security and Medicare. How would you finance these programs without payroll taxes?
TRUMP: Providing a payroll tax deferral [which an Aug. 8 executive order permits] poses no risk to the Social Security trust fund and puts more money in the pockets of hardworking Americans.
More than half of all retired Americans rely on Social Security for at least half of their income. If elected, how will you ensure that Social Security benefits are not cut?
BIDEN: First of all, by making sure that President Trump doesn't get reelected. You saw what he said on the 12th of August: “We will be terminating the payroll tax after I hopefully get reelected.” Social Security's actuary predicted that would end Social Security by mid-2023.
I will strengthen it. What I would do is change the program for long-term solvency and increase the benefits going to widows and widowers from the steep cuts in benefits that occur; when the one who is getting the biggest payment passes, the payment drops.
I would not change payroll taxes for anyone earning less than $400,000, but everybody making more than that will pay the same payroll tax on wages over $400,000 as they pay on their first $137,000. The estimates are that Social Security will be secure for a long, long time and allow us to actually increase, not decrease, payments to seniors who have outlived their savings.
So there would be a payroll tax gap between $137,700 [the income threshold in 2020 at which you no longer pay payroll taxes] and $400,000?
BIDEN: Yes, that's right. We could easily do this. The burden on someone making $3 million having to pay into Social Security at the same rate as you making $50,000? It is fair. It is affordable. It solves a gigantic social problem and it gives absolute assurance. There are ways to pay for it just by being fair. It's time that people start paying their fair share. We're not punishing anybody.
Medicare/Prescription Drugs
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It’s a rigged system against the customer. It’s actually a rigged system against our government because, as you know, much of it is paid for by our government.
Even with Medicare coverage, older Americans spend something like $1 out of $6 on health care, on average. If reelected, how will you protect Medicare from benefit cuts, and how can the program be improved?
TRUMP: The one thing that is so important and that I've done like nobody else: cut the cost of prescription drugs. As you know, I just signed executive orders to get it done. If you look back, you'll see that last year drug prices went down; very little, but they went down about 1 percent. That's the first time in 51 years that the cost of drugs went down.
Through executive orders, I've instituted “favored nations” [deals] and also buying from other countries. Germany gets a tremendous deal and so do many other countries, except us. We're the only ones that don't. In Germany, if they sell a pill for 10 cents and we sell it for $2, under favored nations we [also] get it for 10 cents. Now I'm taking a lot of heat. Big pharma is not happy. But this will be the greatest price reduction in drugs in the history of our country.
How will you take it from executive orders to actually implementing a program like this?
TRUMP: It will be very hard to [undo the executive orders]. A president would have to come in and say, “Hey, we're going to raise the prices” of whatever drug you're buying by 10 times, nine times, eight times in order to go back to the old system.
I don't think that's going to be politically viable once we do this. This is one of those executive orders where once it's instituted, it's going to be very hard, if not impossible, to break. I'm not dealing with Congress on it. In fact, I will tell you that a lot of congressmen and senators are not happy with it .… But I felt I had an obligation to do it. I understand the system, and it's a rigged system. It's a rigged system against the customer. It's actually a rigged system against our government because, as you know, much of it is paid for by our government. I've taken a lot of heat, a lot of commercials against me, but it's something I felt I had to do.
Satisfaction among people who are beneficiaries of Medicare is very high and yet it is a costly system, and critics say it could be improved. What do you think could be done to make it even better for older Americans?
TRUMP: Management can be improved. One of the biggest ways of doing that, as you know, is … look at fraud, waste and abuse. By the way, [Medicare] Part D premiums are lower by around 12 percent. We've done a lot, but there is a big thing on fraud, waste and abuse, and we'll take care of that.
This is an election that has to be won because when they say “Medicare for All,” the country doesn't make enough money if we put every penny into it. What that will do is actually destroy Medicare. It will ruin coverage. It's a disaster. It's a very dangerous thing they're playing with.
Even under Medicare, older Americans spend something like $1 out of $6 on health care, on average. If you are elected, how will you protect Medicare from benefit cuts, and how can the program be improved?
BIDEN: Medicare is a lifeline for around 60 million Americans. Under the Affordable Care Act, we made sure that we strengthened Medicare. We extended the life of the Medicare trust fund by bending the cost curve. We expanded free preventative services like mammograms and colonoscopies, and we closed the doughnut hole so more seniors could afford their prescriptions.
For me, preserving and defending Medicare is a sacred trust between our seniors and our government. We've got to give Medicare the power, for example, to negotiate drug prices. Trump said he was going to do that. The Democratic Congress passed a bill for Medicare to negotiate drugs prices, and what did he do? He came out against it.
I feel very passionate about this, as you can tell. There is a lot we can, and we must, do!
On your website you note that you would keep Medicare as a “separate and distinct program, and ensure there is no disruption to the current Medicare system.” I'm assuming that is a guarantee against “Medicare for All” or other single-payer systems encroaching on it.
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