Biden plans tax high-earners in bid to save Medicare

U.S. President Joe Biden will seek to raise the Medicare tax on high earners and push for more drug price negotiations to help keep the federal health insurance program solvent through at least 2050 as part of his budget proposal this week, the White House said.

The tax increase from 3.8 percent to 5 percent on earned and unearned income above $400,000 is part of a package of proposals aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund by at least 25 years, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Let’s ask the wealthiest to pay just a little bit more of their fair share, to strengthen Medicare for everyone over the long term," Biden wrote separately in a New York Times guest essay.

Biden has sought to link Republicans to the idea of cutting funding for the insurance program for seniors and the disabled as part of negotiations over increasing the United States' $31.4 trillion debt limit. The Democratic president has pledged to offer his vision for funding Medicare and challenged Republicans to offer their own.