What did Donald Trump do today?
He offered his smallest bribe to voters yet.
As the midterm elections approach, Trump has become less and less subtle about his intention to buy Americans' votes, or at least to make promises to that effect. At his infamous "midterm convention," he abruptly declared that he would give every American adult $5,000—but only if they voted in a Republican Congress. That came on top of a different $5,000 promised as a "DOGE dividend," and a $2,000 "tariff rebate."
Today, however, the government agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid confirmed a promise Trump made on social media last night for another rebate, this time for "certain Medicare beneficiaries" in the sum of… $90.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also noted that eligible senior citizens would receive "an email or a letter from the President in mid-October."
From his post yesterday, it's hard to escape the conclusion that Trump thinks $90 is a lot of money to Americans who need health care. For context, $90 is roughly
- five days' worth of premiums on a comprehensive supplemental insurance plan
- 3.7% the average cost of a colonoscopy
- one-quarter the cost of a mammogram
- 9 hours as a resident in a memory care facility
- 0.3% of the annual cost of a course of Leqembi, an Alzheimer's drug that is administered intravenously
- 1.5% the cost of surgery to remove bone spurs like the ones Trump claimed he had to avoid the Vietnam draft
This isn't the first time that Trump, a billionaire who graduated from having a personal physician on retainer to free lifetime government health care, has misjudged how much money Americans actually need to afford health care. Last year, he shut down the government in order to make sure that ACA plan subsidies expired, which spiked costs for millions of Americans. His proposed solution: abolish health insurance entirely, issue a one-time check for about $1,000, and then let Americans "negotiate" individually with doctors while sick or in need of urgent medical attention. (He said it would let Americans "feel like entrepreneurs.")
As small as the payout will be on an individual basis, it does amount to a lot of money taken out of healthcare programs. According to a Republican aide who spoke to the Washington Post, the funds would otherwise have gone to diabetes programs and community health centers.
Why does this matter?
- A pathetic attempt at a bribe is still an attempt at a bribe.