WASHINGTON — Republicans angling for the party’s presidential nomination on Wednesday grappled with the reality that the Medicare program could start running out of money within the next president’s eight-year term.
Republican presidential candidates met for their third showdown Wednesday night, sparring over everything from foreign policy to TikTok. On health care, they touched on entitlement spending, abortion after losses in this week’s election on the issue, and addressing the opioid crisis. Just five candidates took the stage after some dropped out and campaign requirements winnowed down the field.
Some candidates, including Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, refused to commit to changing the eligibility age for Medicare, instead citing difficulties for people who make their living through manual labor and calling for improving other economic metrics and reining in government spending generally.
That position is in line with former President Trump’s position that Republicans shouldn’t cut entitlements.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie suggested raising the retirement age “a few years” for people in their thirties and forties. He also suggested that wealthy people like Warren Buffett shouldn’t be collecting Social Security benefits. He declined to state a specific new retirement age, saying that would be part of a negotiation with Congress.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also took an aggressive approach. She suggested limiting benefits to wealthy seniors, expanding the prevalence of Medicare Advantage plans to increase competition into the program, and increasing the retirement age for young people, though she didn’t propose a specific age.
The projected date when Medicare could no longer cover all its expenses is 2031, which is theoretically inside the window of a two-term presidency if a Republican candidate is elected in 2024.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy didn’t directly address the question, and instead talked about spending less money on wars, firing federal employees, and growing the economy through decreasing regulation.
A scramble on abortion
Days after voters across the country rebuked policies and candidates that would restrict abortion rights, GOP candidates were asked what that meant for their anti-abortion stances. The issue came up in the first Republican debate as well, with virtually every candidate on the stage taking a different stance towards when in pregnancy abortion should be limited and if it should be a federal or state-regulated law.
Ohio voters chose Tuesday to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, becoming the latest state to shore up abortion rights in the wake of Roe’s overturn last year. Kentucky voters also reelected Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear despite going for Trump in the last election, while Virginia rebuffed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s aspirations for a GOP-controlled legislature that could pursue his plans to limit abortion to 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Ramaswamy, an Ohio native, blamed Tuesday night’s setbacks on “a Republican culture of losing.” State conservatives “did not have an alternative amendment or vision on the table” he argued.
In a rare moment of agreement, DeSantis also blasted state Republicans for “being caught flat-footed” on the referenda, including the additional five in last year’s election cycle that voted against abortion limits.
“A lot of the people who are voting for the referenda are Republicans who would vote for a Republican candidate. So you got to understand how to do that,” DeSantis said.
However even with an alternative plan, the level of restrictions the government should employ is hotly contested, particularly among Republican voters. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe the U.S. Supreme Court should not have overturned federal protections with Roe v. Wade, according to a Gallup poll this May that also found that only 13% of Americans think abortion should be banned under any circumstances.
The same poll found that two-thirds of Americans say abortion should be legal in the first trimester. That is far beyond near total-bans in 13 states including North Dakota and the six-week restriction DeSantis signed in Florida.
Haley has been the most moderate Republican among remaining candidates when it comes to abortion access, a record her rivals attacked Wednesday night.
“When you look post-Roe, a wrong was made right. They took it out of the hands of unelected justices, and they put it in the hands of the people — and now we’re seeing states vote,” she said. “As much as I’m pro-life, I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice, and I don’t want them to judge me for being pro-life.”
Fentanyl stances still center on border
NBC moderators also raised questions about the country’s record overdose deaths, with most of the candidates focusing on restrictive border policies to reverse that trend.
Ramaswamy went so far as to say that the country should not stop at building a wall on the Mexico border, but take it north as well and target illicit Canadian shipments.
“There was enough fentanyl that was captured just on the northern border last year to kill 3 million Americans,” he said. “Don’t just build the wall, build both walls.”
That echoes earlier debates where candidates focused on military and criminal crackdowns but did not dwell on treatment and safer addiction resources, much to the chagrin of addiction treatment advocates who say militaristic border policies would not quell the existing crisis in America. More than 100,000 people died from overdose in the country last year, according to federal data.
Christie also turned to treatment and described addiction as a disease.
“We’re going to call this what it is: It is a disease like heart disease, diabetes, or any other disease like cancer that can be treated, should be treated,” the former governor said. He said he would declare the illicit drug trade a national emergency (which the Biden administration has already done). Christie also said he would impose fees on workers’ remittances to countries where cartels are based.