Most American adults oppose proposals that would cut funding to Medicare or Social Security, and most support raising taxes on the highest income earners to keep Medicare business as usual.
The results of a March survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research come as both programs are on the brink of running out of enough cash to pay full benefits over the next decade.
Few Americans would agree with some of the politicians’ proposals to strengthen the programs: 79% say they oppose reducing the size of Social Security benefits and 67% oppose increasing monthly Medicare premiums.
About 65 million seniors and disabled people access government-sponsored health insurance through Medicare and depend on monthly payments from Social Security.
Instead, 58% support the idea of raising taxes on households that earn more than $400,000 a year to finance Medicare, a plan proposed by President Joe Biden last month.
Marilyn Robinson, 90, disagrees with almost everything the Democratic leader says, but thinks his plan to raise taxes on the richest to pay for the future of health care makes sense.
She doesn’t know anyone in her rural farming town of White Creek, New York, who makes that much money. Robinson herself, who has had Medicare for the past 25 years, receives just $1,386 in pension and Social Security checks each month.
“I can survive on that money,” he said. “But if you’re talking about $400,000, you’re in another category. There’s no one around here making money like that.”
That’s the one change to the subsidy programs that most Americans say they would support.
One way or another, changes are expected for the programs. Last week, the annual report from the trustees of Social Security and Medicare released Friday warned that Medicare will only have enough cash to cover 89% of payments for hospital visits and nursing home stays by 2031. Two years later , Social Security will only be able to pay 77% of benefits to retirees.
The survey found that many Americans have doubts about the stability of both programs: Only 2 in 10 people are very or extremely confident that the benefits of either program will be available to them when they need them, while about half have little or no trust.
Republican and Democratic leaders have publicly vowed not to cut Social Security or Medicare benefits. However, some Republicans have floated the idea of raising the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare in order to keep the programs running.
But most Americans also overwhelmingly reject that. Three-quarters of Americans say they oppose raising the age of eligibility for Social Security benefits from 67 to 70, and 7 in 10 oppose raising the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 67.
Lawmakers who support raising the eligibility age to keep those programs afloat witnessed the rocky road ahead in France, where President Emanuel Macron’s proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 has been met with violence and massive protests.
While most support raising taxes on households making more than $400,000 to cover Medicare, the poll shows a political divide on doing so: 75% of Democrats support the tax, but Republicans are sharply divided, with 42% % in favor and 37% against, and 20% do not support any.
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