--- title: Jeb Bush Proposes Reforms to Medicare and Social Security description: The GOP hopeful proposes privatizing Medicare for seniors and cutting Social Security benefits for the wealthy. canonical: https://time.com/4089082/jeb-bush-medicare-social-security/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-27T17:33:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:06:48.219Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeb Bush Proposes Reforms to Medicare and Social Security og:description: The GOP hopeful proposes privatizing Medicare for seniors and cutting benefits for the wealthy. og:url: https://time.com/4089082/jeb-bush-medicare-social-security/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt034d9efcf395fc8c/6988671ccf40a854b1c4013b/jeb-bush-super-pac.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Former Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to voters at the Heritage Action Presidential Candidate Forum September 18, 2015 in Greenville, South Carolina. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeb Bush Proposes Reforms to Medicare and Social Security twitter:description: The GOP hopeful proposes privatizing Medicare for seniors and cutting benefits for the wealthy. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt034d9efcf395fc8c/6988671ccf40a854b1c4013b/jeb-bush-super-pac.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeb Bush Proposes Reforms to Medicare and Social Security > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 27, 2015 5:33 PM UTC  Former Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to voters at the Heritage Action Presidential Candidate Forum September 18, 2015 in Greenville, South Carolina. Former Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to voters at the Heritage Action Presidential Candidate Forum September 18, 2015 in Greenville, South Carolina. Sean Rayford—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Oct 27, 2015 5:33 PM UTC Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush announced new entitlement reform proposals Tuesday that would move the country towards privatizing Medicare, while raising the Social Security retirement age and cutting entitlement benefits wealthier Americans. Bush would scale back Medicare spending, in a plan that echoed the proposals of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, while providing seniors with “premium support,” a fixed amount for guaranteed coverage options, allowing them to buy coverage from private insurers. He would also reduce the levels of government subsidies for individuals making more than $85,000 a year. “This is not about changing the program for those who already have it,” he said. “If we do not have an honest conversation about what it will take to protect Medicare and Social Security, we fail seniors and we will fail the next generation of Americans.” Those who can afford to save for retirement will get a smaller Social Security benefit check when they stop working, under Bush’s proposal, but there would be an across the board increase in the minimum benefit. The plan would eliminate the payroll tax for seniors at age 67, and adjust benefits for those who retire early or work past retirement age. Starting in 2022, Bush would steadily increase the retirement age so that workers would become fully eligible at age 70 in 2058. Bush, 62, who recently cut staff and spending in a campaign shakeup, [is polling at about 7% of voters in the recent CBS/New York Times national poll.](http://time.com/4088458/carson-inches-ahead-of-trump-in-new-national-poll/?xid=homepage) He will appear at the third Republican presidential debate on Wednesday in Colorado, which will be broadcast by CNBC. The Bush campaign published a position paper on his entitlement plans [on its website](https://jeb2016.com/backgrounder-medicare-and-social-security/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4089082/jeb-bush-medicare-social-security/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4089082/jeb-bush-medicare-social-security/"},"headline":"Jeb Bush Proposes Reforms to Medicare and Social Security","datePublished":"2015-10-27T17:33:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:06:48.219Z","description":"Another detailed mainstream conservative policy plan","url":"https://time.com/4089082/jeb-bush-medicare-social-security/","keywords":["jeb bush","Election 2016"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt034d9efcf395fc8c/6988671ccf40a854b1c4013b/jeb-bush-super-pac.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt034d9efcf395fc8c/6988671ccf40a854b1c4013b/jeb-bush-super-pac.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to voters at the Heritage Action Presidential Candidate Forum September 18, 2015 in Greenville, South Carolina.","caption":"Former Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to voters at the Heritage Action Presidential Candidate Forum September 18, 2015 in Greenville, South Carolina.","creditText":"Sean Rayford—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/jeb-bush/","name":"jeb bush"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4089082/jeb-bush-medicare-social-security/","name":"Jeb Bush Proposes Reforms to Medicare and Social Security"}}]}] ```