Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed support for privatizing Medicare and Social Security during his first campaign for Congress in 2012, giving political rivals who have pledged to protect the programs an opening to attack him ahead of DeSantis’ expected run for president in 2024.
Former President Donald Trump and Democrats have already signaled plans to weaponize DeSantis’ comments against him, should he announce for president, and subsequent votes in Congress for non-binding budget resolutions that privatized Medicare and raised the retirement age to 70.
A CNN KFile review of comments from DeSantis’ 2012 congressional campaign found he repeatedly said he supported plans to replace Medicare with a system in which the government paid for partial costs of private plans or a traditional Medicare plan. In one interview with a local newspaper, DeSantis said he supported “the same thing” for Social Security, citing the need for “market forces” to restructure the program.
DeSantis’ office declined to comment on his position on Social Security and Medicare.
During his 2012 campaign, DeSantis embraced then-Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget which became a political football in the 2012 presidential race, when Ryan was chosen as Mitt Romney’s pick for vice president. Democrats argued in 2012 Ryan’s budget plans turned Medicare into a “voucher” system, whereas Republicans called it “premium support.” Under the proposals, the government would subsidize seniors by partially paying for private plans or a traditional Medicare plan.
“I would embrace proposals like [Rep.] Paul Ryan offered, and other people have offered, that are going to provide some market forces in there, more consumer choice, and make it so that it’s not just basically a system that’s just going to be bankrupt when you have new people coming into it,” DeSantis told the St….
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