Trump rips Dems’ embrace of ‘Medicare for all’: ‘The centrist Democratic Party is dead’

President Trump on Wednesday attacked Democrats over their embrace of “Medicare for all,” writing in an op-ed for USA Today that the plan would threaten seniors and likening the single-payer plan to radical socialism.

“The Democrats’ plan means that after a life of hard work and sacrifice, seniors would no longer be able to depend on the benefits they were promised,” Trump wrote. “In practice, the Democratic Party’s so-called Medicare for All would really be Medicare for None. Under the Democrats’ plan, today’s Medicare would be forced to die.”

{mosads}Democrats have promised that the Medicare for all plan would improve health-care benefits for seniors and other U.S. citizens. The plan would also expand Medicare to cover almost everyone, Democrats have said. 

But Trump wrote that Democrats’ preference for the single-payer health-care system shows that the “centrist Democratic Party is dead.”

“The new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America’s economy after Venezuela,” he wrote.

The op-ed comes about a month ahead of November’s midterm elections, when health care will likely be an important issue for voters.

“If Democrats win control of Congress this November, we will come dangerously closer to socialism in America,” Trump wrote. “Government-run health care is just the beginning. Democrats are also pushing massive government control of education, private-sector businesses and other major sectors of the U.S. economy.”

“Every single citizen will be harmed by such a radical shift in American culture and life. Virtually everywhere it has been tried, socialism has brought suffering, misery and decay,” the president added.

The op-ed also comes after Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made similar criticisms on Tuesday of Medicare for all, saying that it shows that the Democratic Party has “gone off the rails.”