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President Donald Trump is stepping up his attack on Democrats over a health care proposal called Medicare for All, claiming it “would end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives.” Trump, omitting any mention of improved benefits for seniors that Democrats promise, writes in an op-ed published Wednesday in USA Today, “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.” (Miller, 10/10)

President Trump wrote an opinion article for USA Today on Oct. 10 regarding proposals to expand Medicare to all Americans — known as Medicare-for-All — in which almost every sentence contained a misleading statement or a falsehood. Many of these are claims we have already debunked. Presumably, the president is aware of our fact checks — he even links to two — but chose to ignore the facts in service of a campaign-style op-ed. Medicare-for-All is a complex subject, and serious questions could be raised about the cost and how a transition from today’s health-care system would be financed. Trump correctly notes that studies have estimated that the program — under the version promoted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — would add $36 trillion in costs to the federal government over 10 years. (Kessler, 10/10)

The president's op-ed column flubbed some facts and omitted some key context: Trump put the cost of "Medicare for All" at $32.6 trillion over 10 years, calling it an "astonishing" figure. He actually underestimated the expected cost. He cited the added cost to the federal government of taking over private insurance, as estimated by Blahous. The total cost of the new system would be even higher. Trump said Democrats have already "harmed seniors by slashing Medicare" to pay for President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. He neglected to mention that when Republicans later won control of Congress, they kept in their own budgets the Obama Medicare cuts that they had campaigned against. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/11)

Trump notes that as a candidate, he "promised that we would protect coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions." In fact, Trump and his fellow Republicans tried — unsuccessfully — to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which guarantees insurance coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. GOP plans would leave it up to the states to craft alternative protections. In addition, Republican attorneys general have sued to overturn Obamacare's protections, and the Trump administration has declined to defend them. America's Health Insurance Plans, the trade group for the insurance industry, warns that ending the Obamacare guarantee could result in hardship for the estimated 130 million Americans under 65 with pre-existing conditions. (Horsley, 10/10)

Trump: Medicare for All would "take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives." This is a "horrible mischaracterization of the proposal," said Linda Blumberg of the Urban Institute. Medicare for All would actually give an expanded version of traditional Medicare to everyone, with broader coverage -- including items such as dental and vision care -- while eliminating virtually all out of pocket costs, she said. (Greenberg and Jacobson, 10/10)

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." (Burke, 10/10)

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) said President Trump’s USA Today op-ed ripping “Medicare for all” was full of misinformation meant to deliberately mislead the public. “The American people deserve better than smears and sabotage,” Schumer said in a statement. “All of the false and misleading words in the world can’t cover up the truth: President Trump and Republicans in Congress are forcing millions of Americans to pay more for health insurance and trying to rip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions.” (Weixel, 10/10)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday hit back against an op-ed by President Trump attacking Sanders’s signature "Medicare for all" proposal, saying Trump’s piece is filled with “blatant lies.” “Bottom line is he's trying to frighten seniors and suggest that Medicare for all would cut back the benefits they have,” Sanders told reporters. “The truth is it would expand the benefits that they have.” (Sullivan, 10/10)

The GOP is hammering Democratic challengers in swing districts over a plan putting the government in full control of the health care system, betting that voter backlash over the multi-trillion dollar proposal will tip crucial House races to Republicans. There’s just one problem: Few of the targeted Democrats actually support such a plan. (Cancryn, 10/10)