Jeb Bush Wants To ‘Figure Out A Way To Phase Out’ Medicare

FILE - In this March 19, 2015 file photo, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks to lawmakers on the Georgia House floor in Atlanta. It’s become even clearer thanks to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: Immigration is the b... FILE - In this March 19, 2015 file photo, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks to lawmakers on the Georgia House floor in Atlanta. It’s become even clearer thanks to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: Immigration is the banana peel of 2016 Republican presidential politics. Just ask Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. He stepped up as a Senate leader on immigration only to slip and fall in a tea party ruckus over the issue. In a moment of candor, he remembered the months of trying to get back up as “a real trial for me.” Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has a strong voice _ and a book _ on immigration but he’s done some shifting of his own. His statements in support of a path to legal status for people in the country illegally are loud and proud, but a departure from an earlier position that envisaged eventual citizenship. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) MORE LESS
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The phase-out brigade is back! But now instead of George W. Bush wanting to phase out Social Security, it’s Jeb Bush wanting to phase out Medicare.

The former Florida governor opined Wednesday on the future of Medicare, a program he said “we need to figure out a way to phase out.”

As MSNBC reported, the GOP 2016er was speaking at an Americans for Prosperity event in New Hampshire, where he brought up a TV ad in which a Paul Ryan-look-a-like “was pushing an elderly person off the cliff in a wheelchair.” The ad was knocking Ryan’s Medicare-related budget proposals.

“I think we need to be vigilant about this and persuade people that our, when your volunteers go door to door, and they talk to people, people understand this. They know, and I think a lot of people recognize that we need to make sure we fulfill the commitment to people that have already received the benefits, that are receiving the benefits,” Bush said. “But that we need to figure out a way to phase out this program for others and move to a new system that allows them to have something – because they’re not going to have anything.”

Medicare is the federal health insurance program for those over the age of 65. It also covers those below 65 who have permanent disabilities.

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