The page numbers provided link directly to the relevant sections in the Project 2025 document.

Medicare and Medicaid for Seniors

Project 2025 makes Medicare Advantage the default option for Medicare enrollees

For 30+ years, the Heritage Foundation (authors of Project 2025) has been lobbying to replace the traditional Medicare system with privatized health insurance and have had success with the implementation of Medicare Advantage (MA). The majority of MA plans are offered by large insurance companies which offer less patient healthcare choices due to a smaller network of MA providers. While being touted as ‘consumer choice’ and ‘increased innovation’, the MA program is based on lowering pay-outs for medical care in order to maximize profits for the insurance companies. In addition, the MA plans typically require burdensome pre-authorizations which subsequently have high rates of denial by MA plan administrators. Project 2025 would also ‘remove burdensome policies that micromanage MA plans’; these burdensome policies, better known as oversight, are leading to audits of MA plans for inflated billing and high denial rates for pre-authorizations. [498] 

Project 2025 increases the cost of Medicare prescription drugs

The proposal would repeal the drug negotiation program for Medicare under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. As of August 2024, the current administration has negotiated prices for the first set of ten drugs which will lower list prices for the drugs from 38 to 79%. It is estimated that when the negotiated prices take effect in 2026, there will be a savings of $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for Medicare enrollees. An example of the savings is for Jardiance, a drug used to treat diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease; the drug list price in 2023 for 30-day supply was $573, the negotiated price for 2026 for 30-day supply will be $197.

Project 2025 would also reduce the government share in the catastrophic tier of Medicare Part D for out-of-pocket prescriptions and would require the pharmaceutical companies to have a larger share. There is no restriction in Project 2025 that would prevent the companies from passing on the costs to Medicare enrollees.  [498]  

Project 2025 decreases Medicaid coverage for low-income seniors

Project 2025 would change Medicaid payments to states by removing the current federal input of a fixed percentage of actual costs and implementing a capped payment amount regardless of actual costs for requirements such as long-term nursing care and home-based care options. The outcome is designed to deeply cut Medicaid spending by allowing states to drop coverage of benefits which are currently mandatory. [499] 

Project 2025 gives states the power to deny Medicaid Coverage.

It allows states to put time limits on how long people can be on Medicaid which means that people could lose their health care after a certain amount of time, even if they still need it. States could eliminate certain benefits from Medicaid. This means that many people who are currently eligible for Medicaid would no longer be able to receive certain health care services. Project 2025 caps Medicaid payments to states without regard for their actual spending needs on health and long-term care. This could force states to outright deny coverage of particular benefits, especially costly services such as long-term care. [501] [499] 

The page numbers provided link directly to the relevant sections in the Project 2025 document.

Project 2025 and Education

Edmond Democratic Women, a group of your friends and neighbors, is deeply concerned about the plans contained within Project 2025, a 900+ document that details the agenda for a second Trump administration. EDW is committed to sharing what we have learned from this document. Defeating this plan is the number one reason to vote on November 5 to elect Democrats. Each week, we will do a deep dive into the parts of the plan that have the most potential to harm Oklahoma families and businesses.

We are especially concerned about the Education policies in P25 because, as Oklahomans, we know that some of these plans are already being implemented place in our state. Actions by Governor Stitt, Ryan Walters, and the Republican supermajority at our state capitol are already rolling back decades of progress.

As concerned Oklahomans are aware, these actions include using public money as vouchers for private schools, using tax dollars for Christian schools, turning away federal funds for Title I programs, banning books, and mandating Christian education in public schools. Herein, we unpack the most damaging public and higher education proposals.

Project 2025 specifically spells out plans to:

• Eliminate the US Department of Education. This action means that states would have to pay for all their schools, which could result in less money for schools in poorer areas. [352]
  
  
• Eliminate Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). These programs have been vital in supporting underserved student populations and encouraging states to raise expectations for student learning. [38] [352] [384]
  
  
• Erode public education by eliminating public schools, including $787 million for our Oklahoma Public Schools.  [38] [352] [384]
  
  
• Eliminates the Head Start Program, which would mean many children from poor families would no longer have access to preschool. [515]
  
  
• Plans to significantly reduce access to the Free School Lunch Program. This would mean that many children may not have enough to eat at school, eliminating another safety net for Oklahoma's children who experience food insecurity. [336]
  
  
• Would roll back federal student loan programs. These programs are critical to ensuring that higher education is not reserved for only the wealthy and well-connected. By cutting federal loan programs that help parents of college students, graduate students, and immigrants afford higher education, Project 2025 would forever change higher education. [360]

Why would we want to make a college education harder to access? Who would that serve? Not Edmond families, not the university, not our local businesses. What agenda could possibly be served by further restricting food access for the most vulnerable kids in the system? Why would we want to block anyone's access to higher education?

Why would the authoritarian architects of Project 2025 seek to decimate our nation’s educational system and create an undereducated, uninformed populus? The answer is as simple as it is shocking:

A lower and middle class of uneducated masses is considered a feature, not a bug.

We have the power to defeat this plan by using our voice –our sacred right to vote– on November 5. We encourage you to follow our social media and website every week between now and the election to learn all you can about the importance of defeating Project 2025.

Last update Aug 30, 2024