WXVU: Ramaswamy called Medicare and Medicaid ‘a mistake.’ Was that a mistake

WXVU: Ramaswamy called Medicare and Medicaid 'a mistake.' Was that a mistake?

January 23, 2026

Columbus, Ohio- After Vivek Ramaswamy was caught calling Medicare and Medicaid a "mistake," a new analysis from Howard Wilkinson shows how Ramaswamy's own revealing "mistake" shows that in addition to being deeply out of touch with Ohio's working families, Ramaswamy would again work to raise costs and make the government work only for billionaires and special interests.

READ: Analysis: Ramaswamy called Medicare and Medicaid 'a mistake' | Howard Wilkinson, WXV

• Four little words on an Ezra Klein podcast, uttered in October 2024, are going to haunt Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP candidate for Ohio governor, from now until the November election.

• Asked by Klein whether or not he believed the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, were mistakes, Ramaswamy answered without hesitation.

• "I believe they were," said Ramaswamy, who was still months away from becoming a candidate for Ohio governor.

• Millions of Ohioans, most of whom vote, will be most interested in hearing Ramaswamy's views on the social safety net programs they benefit from each and every day.

• But pre-candidacy Ramaswamy expanded on his views in the podcast, and, to date, hasn't changed his mind, apparently. We wanted to ask him if he wanted to "revise and extend" his remarks, as they say in Congress, but his press handlers did not respond to requests for an interview.

• So all we have is what he said to Ezra Klein in October 2024. Medicare and Medicaid were mistakes, he said, "particularly Medicaid, particularly the welfare state, without the work requirements attached to it."

• Three months after making these remarks, Ramaswamy spent a couple of weeks under Elon Musk and his DOGE budget-slashing effort (under which government spending actually increased).

• Spurned by DeWine, Ramaswamy decided to run for governor instead, despite never having spent a day in state government.

• Ramaswamy has sworn off posting on social media for the duration of his campaign - probably a wise move, since nearly every time he did, it backfired on him. Such as with his plan for a 365-day school year for kids - an idea so far out that even many Republicans called him out on it.

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