Vivek Ramaswamy’s Social Security Privatization Scam Would “Leave Ohioans With Less Retirement Income and Increased Healthcare Costs”
August 20, 2026
Columbus, Ohio- New reporting from The Ohio Independent details how Vivek Ramaswamy wants to privatize Social Security and “leave Ohioans with less retirement income and increased healthcare costs.” Ramaswamy has called Medicare and Medicaid “mistakes.” His hostility toward these foundational programs would be dangerous for the millions of Ohioans who rely on Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare to make ends meet.
“Ohioans are working harder than ever to keep up with rising costs, but Vivek Ramaswamy says privatizing Social Security is ‘a reasonable conversation to have’ which would gut retirement income and increase healthcare costs for working families; he can’t promise their Social Security is safe for when they retire,” said Ohio Democratic Party spokeswoman Katie Seewer. “Ramaswamy wants to gamble with our Social Security to line his own pockets. He isn’t just out of touch; he’s clearly only out for himself.”
READ: Vivek Ramaswamy backed Social Security privatization
- Vivek Ramaswamy is running for Ohio governor on a plan to “put more money in your pocket and give your kids a world-class education.” His proposed changes to entitlement programs, however, might leave Ohioans with less retirement income and increased healthcare costs.
- During his unsuccessful presidential campaign, Ramaswamy said he favored privatizing Social Security, replacing it with a system that would allow the government or individuals to invest retirement funds in stocks and bonds.
- One such reform he brought up during a New Hampshire town hall event in August 2023 was investing Social Security funds. “If we had just allowed that money to be invested by Social Security in the same way that your financial advisor would recommend that you invest your money, in a diversified portfolio, we would be swimming in surplus today,” he said.
- Ramaswamy made similar comments in February 2024 interview with AARP, telling the nonprofit group, “I think we have to be honest about learning from a prior mistake: 20 years ago we should have allowed people to actually invest their Social Security money or the government to invest Social Security money in the same way that we would have allowed any private citizen to do in the stock market and in bonds and otherwise.”
- Experts say investing Social Security money in the stock market could leave future beneficiaries with much less money in retirement if the investments go downhill or the stock market crashes. Instead of a fixed monthly payment, benefits would depend on whether the investments gain or lose value.
- In an October 2024 interview on the “Ezra Klein Show,” Ramaswamy was asked whether Medicare and Medicaid were mistakes. “I believe they were, with the benefit of retrospect, particularly Medicaid, particularly the welfare state, without work attachments required attached to it,” he replied. “What I think of as the welfare state, my principal issue with it is that it actually, I think the evidence would show, in my opinion, that it has harmed the very people that it was created to actually help.”
- More than 2 million Ohioans receive Social Security benefits, about 2.5 million get health insurance through Medicare, and another 3 million are covered by Ohio Medicaid. An estimated 65,000 of those Medicaid subscribers are veterans and 44% of Ohio’s kids are covered by the program.
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