Last Monday The Rural Blog began a weekly series that will continue until Election Day, in which we list a few of the most relevant items from FactCheck.org. It's a well-sourced, non-partisan service run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. We encourage you to subscribe to their alerts, which you can do here, and republish their findings, which you can do for free with credit to them.
President Trump has said that Medicare has become "stronger" during his administration; in one instance he said "Medicare will be $700 billion stronger over the next decade thanks to our growth." However, Medicare's finances have gotten worse since his inauguration, its current model is unsustainable, and economists don't expect growth to help the program as much as he claims, Eugene Kiely writes. The Medicare Part A trust fund, which covers hospital payments, is projected to run out of money by 2026, three years sooner than last year's projection, partly because last year's tax cut reduced revenues and increased expenses. Meanwhile, "the annual cost for all four parts of Medicare — including physician payments and prescription drugs — is expected to more than double from $710 billion in 2017 to $1.44 trillion in 2027, and general revenues will increase as a share of Medicare financing from 41 percent in 2017 to 49 percent in 2032," Kiely reports. And though Trump said Medicare tax revenue would increase $700 billion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in April that economic growth would increase payroll tax revenues for all programs (including Social Security) by only $92 billion.
In a recent op-ed for The Atlantic, Hillary Clinton said President Trump has shown a "complete unwillingness to stop" Russian interference in U.S. elections. That's not true, Robert Farley writes. Though the effectiveness and thoroughness of the Trump administration's actions is debatable, it has taken several steps against foreign interference. The Department of Homeland Security is working with state and local election officials in every state, providing technology assistance and vulnerability assessments. Also, the FBI has been sharing specific threat indicators and social-media account information with social-media and tech companies to help them thwart influence campaigns such as the one Russia carried out before the 2016 election. President Trump expanded sanctions against some Russians who interfered in that election, and signed an executive order that will give the president discretion to impose sanctions on countries that interfere in U.S. elections.
President Trump has said that Medicare has become "stronger" during his administration; in one instance he said "Medicare will be $700 billion stronger over the next decade thanks to our growth." However, Medicare's finances have gotten worse since his inauguration, its current model is unsustainable, and economists don't expect growth to help the program as much as he claims, Eugene Kiely writes. The Medicare Part A trust fund, which covers hospital payments, is projected to run out of money by 2026, three years sooner than last year's projection, partly because last year's tax cut reduced revenues and increased expenses. Meanwhile, "the annual cost for all four parts of Medicare — including physician payments and prescription drugs — is expected to more than double from $710 billion in 2017 to $1.44 trillion in 2027, and general revenues will increase as a share of Medicare financing from 41 percent in 2017 to 49 percent in 2032," Kiely reports. And though Trump said Medicare tax revenue would increase $700 billion over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in April that economic growth would increase payroll tax revenues for all programs (including Social Security) by only $92 billion.
In a recent op-ed for The Atlantic, Hillary Clinton said President Trump has shown a "complete unwillingness to stop" Russian interference in U.S. elections. That's not true, Robert Farley writes. Though the effectiveness and thoroughness of the Trump administration's actions is debatable, it has taken several steps against foreign interference. The Department of Homeland Security is working with state and local election officials in every state, providing technology assistance and vulnerability assessments. Also, the FBI has been sharing specific threat indicators and social-media account information with social-media and tech companies to help them thwart influence campaigns such as the one Russia carried out before the 2016 election. President Trump expanded sanctions against some Russians who interfered in that election, and signed an executive order that will give the president discretion to impose sanctions on countries that interfere in U.S. elections.
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