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Jeb Bush Campaign Press Release - Protect and Secure Medicare for Future Generations

July 23, 2015

Democrats are trying to scare voters by lying about Jeb's position on Medicare. Here's what he really said, and here are the facts:

"First and foremost, whenever you get into a conversation about reforming entitlements the first thing you can be guaranteed of is that the left will attack you and demonize you…we've got to get beyond this because this is not a sustainable system. We need to protect [Medicare] for people that have it and we need to make sure that we reform it for people that are expecting it. As a great country we need to make sure that there's adequate access to healthcare. There are solutions to this." — Jeb Bush, Gorham, New Hampshire, July 23, 2015

Today, the Medicare Board of Trustees released its latest annual report, detailing how the looming fiscal crisis is serious and getting worse with the 75-year Medicare unfunded liability at an astronomical $28 trillion dollars.

There is no question it is critical we take steps today to strengthen Medicare so it is preserved and available for future generations of Americans. Governor Bush is committed to strengthening Medicare in a fiscally conservative way that maintains our nation's social contract and improves choices and quality for our seniors.

Unfortunately, Democrats for years have refused to engage in an honest discussion with voters about the state of the program's finances (with spending at $613 billion last year). Liberals' constant distortions of Republicans' support for saving Medicare is an effort to hide from the reality that they have failed at every opportunity to protect the program. Refusing to even acknowledge the problem is a politically expedient choice that jeopardizes the program itself for future generations.

According to some estimates included in the Medicare trustee report today, the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund is at risk of insolvency by 2030. For anyone doubting the urgent need to fix Medicare, here are some other alarming findings from today's report:

Action is needed now:

"...current-law projections indicate that Medicare still faces a substantial financial shortfall that will need to be addressed with further legislation. Such legislation should be enacted sooner rather than later to minimize the impact on beneficiaries, providers, and taxpayers."

Trustees urge Washington to work together to save Medicare:

"The Trustees recommend that Congress and the executive branch work closely together with a sense of urgency to address the depletion of the hospital insurance trust fund and the projected growth in hospital insurance (Part A) and SMI (Parts B and D) expenditures."

Doing nothing will sacrifice health care for seniors:

"However, if the health sector cannot transition to more efficient models of care delivery and achieve productivity increases commensurate with economy-wide productivity, and if the provider reimbursement rates paid by commercial insurers continue to follow the same negotiated process used to date, then the availability and quality of health care received by Medicare beneficiaries would, under current law, fall over time relative to that received by those with private health insurance."

Medicare fails basic financial tests:

"The estimated depletion date for the hospital insurance trust fund is 2030, the same as in last year's report. As in past years, the Trustees have determined that the fund is not adequately financed over the next 10 years. …The hospital insurance trust fund has not met the Trustees' formal test of short-range financial adequacy since 2003 Growth in hospital insurance expenditures has averaged 2.1 percent annually over the last 5 years and is projected to average 4.8 percent over the next 5 years."

"The Trustees project that hospital insurance tax income and other dedicated revenues will fall short of hospital insurance expenditures in most future years. The hospital insurance trust fund does not meet either the Trustees' test of short-range financial adequacy or their test of long-range close actuarial balance."

Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund could be depleted as soon as 2022:

"There is substantial uncertainty in the economic, demographic, and health care projection factors for hospital insurance trust fund expenditures and revenues. Accordingly, the date of hospital insurance trust fund depletion could differ substantially in either direction from the 2030 intermediate estimate. Under the low-cost assumptions, trust fund assets would start to increase throughout the entire projection period. Under the high-cost assumptions, however, asset depletion would occur in 2022."

Jeb Bush, Jeb Bush Campaign Press Release - Protect and Secure Medicare for Future Generations Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/312738

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