Beck's “Plan,” Day 2: Medicare and Social Security

This week on his Fox News program, Glenn Beck is laying out “The Plan,” a series of proposals he has developed with the assistance of conservative think tanks for “slashing the budget,” which he claims is necessary for the United States “to survive.”

Today, Beck looked at Medicare and Social Security:

  • Beck rejected Cato Institute tax policy director Chris Edwards' proposal to privatize Social Security (because “it goes against everything [the founders] stood for”). Beck instead stated that under his plan, “you're 55 years old to 62, maybe you get 40 percent... 62-plus, okay, we're going to take care of you... but if you're below 54... you get nothing.”He then added “then, you go back to... we slave it to the life expectancy. As the life expectancy goes up, so does the retirement age.” Beck did not specify when his version of Social Security would be re-implemented for those in their mid-fifties and younger, or state what the starting retirement age or the level of benefits would be.
  • Turning to Medicare, Beck and Edwards discussed privatizing the program, with Edwards stating, “someone hits the age of 65, you give them a federal $11,000 voucher, they can go and buy health insurance on the private market if they want.

Beck also teased tomorrow's portion of “The Plan”: “Tomorrow ... we abolish the Department of Education.”