Donald Trump wrongly says Social Security and Med

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Donald Trump wrongly says Social Security and Medicare are stronger

By Jon Greenberg on Thursday, September 6th, 2018 at 5:05 p.m.

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/stat...-and-medi/

President Donald Trump is rejecting the image of policy chaos and bitter staff infighting captured in the latest book by Washington Post editor Bob Woodward.

At a meeting with Kuwait’s leader Sheikh Al-Sabah, Trump called the book "fiction" and said in contrast to what it describes, no administration has gotten more done on tax cuts, deregulation and the courts than his. And the accomplishments don’t end there.

"We’re saving Medicare," Trump said Sept. 5. "The Democrats want to destroy Medicare. If you look at what they’re doing, they’re going to destroy Medicare. And we will save it. We will keep it going. We’re making it stronger. We’re making Social Security stronger. We’re making our whole country stronger. So all you have to do is look at the achievements."

In this fact-check, we look at whether the Trump administration has made Medicare and Social Security stronger.

Key takeaways

•Compared with estimates a year ago, the primary trust fund for Medicare runs out three years sooner.

•The primary trust fund for Social Security runs out one year sooner.

•The Republican tax cuts trimmed a year of solvency from the primary Medicare trust fund and had a negative effect on the Social Security trust fund.

Our ruling

Trump said that his administration is making Medicare and Social Security stronger. The forecast for both programs is worse today than a year ago. The main Medicare trust fund is expected to run out of money three years sooner. The main Social Security trust fund is expected to run out one year sooner.

The Republican tax cut law and lower-than-projected wages accounted for most of the downgrade.

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