Kelly Ayotte’s history of backing Medicare cuts could be hurdle in governor's race

Former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte, now a Republican candidate for governor in New Hampshire, consistently supported efforts to cut Medicare and Social Security. That could be a liability in a state where 20% of voters are over 65 years old.

Ayotte served one term in the U.S. Senate from 2011 to 2017. She launched her bid for New Hampshire’s open governor seat last year. She will face former president of the New Hampshire Senate Chuck Morse in a Sept. 10 Republican primary.

Ayotte’s willingness to cut Social Security and Medicare dates back to her first year in the Senate. In 2011, she supported the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, a Republican resolution that sought to reduce the deficit by making sweeping cuts in federal spending. An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said cuts to Social Security would be inevitable under the plan and called it “one of the most ideologically extreme pieces of major budget legislation to come before Congress in years.”

The Cut, Cap, and Balance Act passed the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate.

The following year, Ayotte supported a budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan that sought to turn Medicare into a “premium support program,” also known as a voucher system. Currently, Medicare is a government-run program that directly pays for the healthcare services of eligible seniors and people with disabilities. Under a premium support system, beneficiaries would be given vouchers to purchase insurance from private providers.

AARP, an interest group representing older Americans, has come out against a voucher system, warning such a program would likely lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for Medicare recipients.

Ayotte voted to turn Medicare into a voucher program again in 2013. In 2015, she opposed a bill that would have protected Medicare from becoming a voucher program. Both bills did not pass.

Ayotte voted two more times in 2015 to put Medicare on the chopping block. Both votes were in support of a budget resolution that initially included plans to voucherize Medicare. The voucher plan was dropped from the final bill and replaced with $430 billion in unspecified budget cuts. These bills also failed to pass.

Throughout her career, Ayotte has suggested raising the Social Security eligibility age and means testing Medicare recipients. Both plans would result in fewer people getting the care they need. 

“The things that we need to have an honest discussion about, some of the ideas out there on Social Security and Medicare are retirement age,” Ayotte said at a 2011 town hall event. “For example, on Social Security, when Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan – a Republican and a Democrat – last reformed Social Security, they made gradual raises to the retirement age, in a way that gave people plenty of notice, and that’s one of the conversations we have to have now. Is that something we need to do?”

Ayotte appears to be referring to the Social Security Act of 1988, which reduced Social Security benefits for retirees who earned above a certain income and created incentives for those who delay collecting Social Security benefits. 

Ayotte made a similar statement at a 2016 AARP event.

“I think our principles should be as a group, working across the aisle, is that anyone who is in retirement now or near retirement that there shouldn’t be changes,” Ayotte said. “In addition to that, then I think we look at ideas like do we raise the cap on high-income earners? Which is an idea that Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill went to. For younger people: is there a way that we adjust how we look at retirement?”

Despite these proclamations, Ayotte voted against raising the Social Security retirement age in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

An Ayotte spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.