The Dystopian Future is Now at Trump’s Social Security Administration
Getty Images A combination of incompetence and extremism is
TrumpRx is Prescription Drug Snake Oil
Donald Trump’s latest gesture toward lowering prescription drug prices — and it is mostly an empty gesture — is the ‘branded’ website, TrumpRx, which the prez unveiled last week with great fanfare. It purports to save Americans money on drugs. But it is largely another Trump gimmick, joining Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump Sneakers, and a myriad of other schemes. Trump Rx simply re-directs users to underwhelming (and already existing) manufacturer’s ‘discounts’ on brand‑name drugs – and is nowhere close to a serious plan to lower costs for the approximately 67 million seniors who rely on Medicare. In fact, Medicare beneficiaries cannot even use these manufacturer’s discounts, and few people with private health insurance policies will benefit, either.
Cato Really Wants to Cut Your Social Security Benefits
Cato Institute’s Romina Boccia is back at it, peddling the trope that Social Security doesn’t work and must be “re-designed.” In a recent post on Cato’s blog, she rolls out the “greatest hits” from a time-worn catalogue of conservative talking points. We asked our senior Social Security expert, Maria Freese, to fact-check some of Boccia’s key claims.
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Conservatives Won’t Stop Dividing the Generations over Social Security, Medicare
Americans of all ages face a crushing affordability crisis. Rather than blame the billionaire class and their political servants
GOP Senators Face Key Test on Health Care Affordability
Last week, the House of Representatives took a bold step towards averting huge increases in Americans’ health care premiums, passing a bill that would extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits for three years. The measure succeeded thanks to YES votes from all House Democrats and 17 House Republicans, who openly defied GOP Speaker Mike Johnson.
Trump & DOGE Wreaked Havoc at SSA, New Reporting Confirms
As the year ends, new reporting confirms that customer service at the Social Security Administration (SSA) has tanked since Trump took office last January – despite the administration's claims to the contrary. A new investigative report by the Washington Post -- based on a thorough analysis of agency data and interviews with SSA employees -- reveals that “long-strained customer services have become worse by many key measures.”
Thanks, Cato, But Let’s Not “Re-Imagine” Social Security (It’s Been Working for 90 Years)
What do you get when a libertarian think tank publishes a book proposing to radically change Social Security in collaboration mostly with other right-leaning organizations? You get something like “Re-imagining Social Security,” authored by the CATO Institute’s Ivane Nachkebia and Romina Boccia (who more than once has called the program a ‘legal Ponzi scheme’). Not surprisingly, to these authors, “re-imagining” the program that some 70 million Americans depend on for financial security essentially means altering the program beyond recognition and cutting benefits for future retirees. To which we say: better not to let their imaginations run away with our earned benefits. The libertarian Cato Institute (which never met a federal program it liked) appears to be on a crusade to undermine the existing Social Security program. Just this week, Boccia published a post in Cato’s ‘Debt Dispatch’ blog, claiming that Social Security “operates on the Robin Hood principle in reverse.” This is, pardon the expression, quite rich coming from a think tank whose funders include the Koch network and mega-corporations like Google, Facebook, Philip Morris, the American Petroleum Institute and Chevron.
Latest Social Security Website Crash a Symptom of Trump/DOGE Mismanagement
Seniors trying to access their earned benefit information hit a snag when the Social Security Administration's (SSA) website crashed on Wednesday morning. These sorts of incidents have unfortunately become commonplace since the Trump administration took over, as DOGE’s crusade at SSA has left the agency in chaos. "We continue to get reports of glitches on SSA's website. It looks like this was one of them," said NCPSSM President and CEO, Max Richtman.
Senate Republicans Kill ACA Tax Credit Extension, Spike Health Care Premiums
Senate Republicans just voted to allow Americans' health care premiums to spike in 2026, neglecting the needs of their own constituents. On Thursday, the Senate failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to extend crucial Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, forcing the program's nearly 24 million enrollees to navigate premiums that could double or even triple in 2026. In a Thursday news release, our President and CEO, Max Richtman called ACA marketplace coverage “a linchpin for older adults who often cannot get affordable health insurance any other way.”