Joe Biden, the president of the United States, pledged on Thursday to maintain social and health insurance benefits for elderly and low-income Americans while stating that he would be a “nightmare” for Republicans seeking to take them away.
“I know that a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare,” on a visit to Florida, a state with a high percentage of uninsured citizens, a bastion of the Republican party, Biden made this statement.
“Well, let me say this: if that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare,” he added.
Biden seemed to be speaking with the 2024 presidential race in mind, despite the fact that he has not yet made an official declaration of candidature, as reported by AFP.
The speech was based on Biden’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday, in which he criticized Republicans for wanting to reduce social spending in order to reduce the nation’s enormous debt.
Many Republican lawmakers began aggressively jeering at the president as a result, with one of them calling him a “liar.”
Republicans in the crowd shouted that they had no plans to eliminate the benefits, but on Thursday, Biden expressed scepticism about such claims, saying, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Medicare is a government health insurance program for adults 65 and older and for people with certain impairments that covers around 18 per cent of Americans.
Medical expenses for low-income Americans of all ages are covered by Medicaid, a distinct programme that is run and partially funded by the states.
Speaking in a state with a large elderly population and 5.5 million Medicaid recipients who are low-income, Biden criticised Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for opposing Medicaid expansion.
Florida’s Medicaid eligibility would increase by nearly 1.1 million (more) if Governor DeSantis just stated, “I agree to expand,” “said Biden. “Politics is the sole reason Medicaid expansion hasn’t taken place in our country.”
In order to win over voters, Biden, who claims he hasn’t made up his mind about seeking re-election next year, is heavily relying on expanding social program.