Pro-Trump super PAC baits Arizona seniors with fake Kamala Harris 'Medicare cancelations'
A super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump's campaign is resorting to a new scare tactic to try to win over elderly voters in Arizona, according to Mother Jones: send them fake notices that their Medicare coverage is being canceled.
The mailers, sent out by MAGA, Inc., "had a big red stamp that proclaimed, 'Medicare Cancellation Notice.' Also emblazoned on its front was this: 'Warning: Rates are going up & plans are being cancelled. Details enclosed.' Its return address was the 'Department of Medicare Cancellation, Kamala Harris Administration,'" reported David Corn. The mailers also included the following message in cursive script: “I hope you can afford to lose your insurance! — Kamala Harris XOXO.”
The back of the mailer warned that Harris “has a new plan that would completely liquidate Medicare funds,” and "All the money you’ve paid into Medicare will be gone ... Your care [will be] cancelled.”
Medicare Part B premiums increased slightly this year from $164.90 to $174.70, but Harris has not at any point proposed a plan that would "liquidate Medicare funds." On the contrary, she has proposed expanding Medicare to cover hearing, vision, and long-term, in-home care, to be paid for by expanding the Biden administration's newly-enacted policy letting Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices.
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The mailer supported its claims by referencing quotes from Harris years ago in which she supported a Medicare for All plan, which would also be an expansion rather than a cancelation of Medicare, and which isn't part of her current proposals anyway.
Ironically, Medicare's viability could actually be threatened by Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's controversial hiring and policy blueprint for Trump if he wins the election; the plan calls for expanding Medicare privatization and making Medicare Advantage plans the default option for enrollees, and repealing prescription drug negotiation, which would result in vastly more of Medicare's budget flowing to private corporations with less oversight and increased health costs.
MAGA, Inc. is run by former Trump aides, and is bankrolled in part by Timothy Mellon, a reclusive railroad heir who has become one of the GOP's largest megadonors of the 2024 cycle.