A Blunt Perspective on Social Security and Medicare - reason.com
With Social Security and Medicare so prominent in the news these days, viewpoints on what the future will bring for these massive senior benefit programs are as varied as they are frequent. Yesterday afternoon, for example, TV host and syndicated columnist John Stossel weighed in with a candid and bleak assessment of the road ahead, enumerating potential solutions to the implosion facing both programs while predicting that no corrective action will make it to lawmakers’ radar screens.
In his situational analysis, Stossel laments the remarks of President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that Social Security and Medicare are “off the table,” an indication to him that both are doomed. Unfortunately, he repeats the myth here that the programs are destined to be broke, but later counters this with, “Reserve funds are projected to run out by 2034.” As most people who have studied the problem know, these are two different things. Yes, Social Security is destined to fully deplete its cash reserves less than ten years from now, but without corrective legislation, the program will continue, just at a lower rate of payout. Not a good situation, for sure, and certainly one that can be avoided through congressional attention and the will of politicians to enact reforms sooner than later.
Quoting remarks from economist Dan Mitchell of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Stossel concludes his appraisal with this: “Sooner or later bad things will happen to senior citizens,” explains Mitchell. “The government will either cut their benefits or all of a sudden start rationing health care. Or reimbursement rates will be so low that you won’t be able to find a doctor or hospital to treat you.”
Read John Stossel’s full post on the Reason Foundation website here. While his remarks tend to be a chilling proclamation, rest assured that organizations are actively working to focus attention on the problem. The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), for example, believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved for current and successive generations and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in D.C., meeting with a great many congressional offices and their staffs over the past decade.