Yesterday in an interview with Neil Cavuto from Fox News Rand Paul was asked about his previous statements regarding a Medicare deductible. In years past Paul had said he supported a $2,000 Medicare deductible to reduce the costs of the program. Under Paul's proposal, every year an individual would have to pay $2,000 out of their own pocket before receiving an health care coverage from the government under Medicare. For many senior citizens on fixed incomes this cost would be burdensome if not prohibitive to them getting health care. Since winning the Republican nomination Paul has generally shied away from talking about his Medicare viewpoints, but he was confronted with some pointed questions from Cavuto. To his credit, Cavuto has been challenging Republican candidates for real proposals to cut spending. To the surprise of many Paul did not back down on his proposal, but reiterated that he was completely serious about trying to implement a $2,000 Medicare deductible for future beneficiaries (video to the left).
With his viewpoints Paul is testing the limits of what a candidate can propose while still getting elected. In previous decades Medicare was considered the "third rail" of politics, in that any politician who dared propose cuts to the program suffered a political death in the next election. Paul may be the closest thing to a true libertarian among the current Republican nominees, believing government has a very limited role in society. His viewpoints extend even to the relatively government popular programs of Social Security and Medicare, which he believes should be reduced, if not completely fazed out.
To try and make his viewpoints more acceptable Paul makes clear that he would keep full benefits for those currently covered by Medicare. However, Paul suggests that his deductible could be implemented for individuals currently age 55 and younger. As a result, people age 55 who were currently counting on being covered by Medicare ten years from now would need to budget an extra $2,000 per-year after retirement to pay for Paul's deductible. Someone who is 55 has also paid into the Medicare system for over 30 years if they worked in the United States. Their payments into the system were made under the presumption that they would be fully covered upon turning 65. Under Paul's proposal the government would essentially revoke its promise to these workers, taking away some of the coverage they were previously guaranteed.
