Interests of a 65-Year-Old

A 65-year-old leads with documented concerns about Social Security solvency, Medicare and prescription drug costs (insulin, blood pressure medications, statins), long-term care costs (the single biggest financial risk this demographic faces), cost of living on a fixed income, and the spousal gap for a partner not yet Medicare-eligible. Talarico's platform reads like a list written for this demographic: protecting Social Security with elimination of the tax cap above $400K, expanded Older Americans Act funding for home-based eldercare, PBM and prior-authorization regulation, banning medical debt on credit reports, restoring ACA enhanced tax credits, and a Medicare buy-in that helps a younger spouse. His Texas record matters here: the $25 insulin cap helps the roughly one in four 65-year-olds with diabetes, the Canadian drug-import law targets exactly this demographic, and the 'thirteenth check' supplemental retirement payment benefits retired teachers in this exact age bracket. Paxton has no published Senate plank on Medicare, Social Security, or long-term care; his support of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (which CBO scored as cutting Medicaid by hundreds of billions of dollars) hits dual-eligible elderly hardest. He earns three points because he has a genuine record of protecting rural healthcare access in court, his pro-business posture appeals to small-business-owner retirees, and the culturally conservative half of this cohort genuinely values what he offers.