In recent polling from The Wall Street Journal that was completed December 4, more respondents went with Joe Biden than Donald Trump when asked who they trusted to better handle Social Security and Medicare.
A full 44 percent selected Biden, while only 38 percent backed Trump. The numbers suggest voters particularly concerned about these issues will be more likely to back the Democrat should he and Trump face each other a second time in next year’s general election for the White House, which presently is generally expected.
An unfolding update to the handling of prescription benefits for Medicare recipients was a key policy included in the Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping piece of legislation signed into law by Biden. Though the updates aren’t taking effect at the purchasing point for consumers right away, the bill facilitates negotiations around the prices of some prescription drugs available through the program, which is providing an opening to bring down costs. The bill also set in motion a $2,000 yearly cap in the amount covered recipients pay for prescriptions, though that change also wasn’t taking effect right away.
Biden only slightly led — by three percentage points — when respondents in the Journal poll were asked who they trusted more to handle health care policy. Trump has lately been talking again about the prospect of doing away with the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare — which Republicans have never actually achieved despite years of clamoring against the law including when Trump was president and Republicans controlled all of Congress. The Trump administration infamously argued when he was in office for the Supreme Court to shut down the health care law, despite not having a replacement plan ready to go for the millions upon millions accessing health coverage through provisions like Medicaid expansion and protection for recipients with pre-existing conditions.
