Medicare-Social Security Budget Bust
by John Goodman
 The National Center for Policy Analysis recently held a Capitol Hill
briefing on the Social Security/Medicare Trustees report with John Palmer
and Tom Saving, the two private sector trustees. Initially appointed by
President Clinton, President Bush reappointed them during recess - avoiding
Senate confirmation. Most people credit Saving and Palmer with changing the
Trustees' report - so that now we get annual updates on the value of the
unfunded liabilities.
Prior to the briefing, CMS (the agency that administers Medicare) had a
briefing on the Medicare report in the same room. I got there early and
looked over all their handouts. Nowhere could I find answers to three
simple questions:
- How much have we promised to spend?
- What are our expected revenues (dedicated payroll taxes plus
premiums)?
- What is the difference between the promises and the expected
receipts?
At the NCPA briefing, attendees got an answer: the unfunded liability in
both programs combined is $84 trillion at today's prices - up more than
$7 trillion from last year's report.
Further, the deficits on these two programs are on a course to engulf
the entire federal budget. As the nearby tables show, we will need more than
one-fourth of all income tax revenues to cover the shortfall by 2020,
one-half of all income taxes by 2030, 70 percent by 2050, etc.
Last Friday, Senators Grassley and Baucus called on Saving and Palmer to
resign, but without giving any cogent reason. A similar letter was sent
by liberal Democrats on the House side. The New York Times has piled on
with two editorials on the subject.
We are still wondering: Why? Do they not want the public to know the facts?
John C. Goodman is President of the National Center for Policy Analysis,
http://www.ncpa.org
Back to front page
Email
the Editor
|
