Editorial
Saturday, December 8, 2007
The presidential
candidates have started to talk about solutions to the impending insolvency of
Social Security. That's significant because the big issues, such as
the growing entitlement burden on the
federal budget, are the hardest to address, so they often get only cursory
treatment during the candidates' debates. When the candidates bat around remedies to Social Security,
they should address Medicare, which will be far harder to fix. Medicare already spends more money than it takes in.
Without substantive changes, Medicare's fiscal doomsday is a mere 12 years
away. Trustees estimate that Social Security in its present form will remain
solvent until 2041. David M. Walker, U.S. comptroller general, said Medicare
represents $32 trillion of a potential $50 trillion in unfunded federal
liabilities in the second half of the 21st century. Medicare faces the double whammy of soaring health-care
costs and the troubling demographic of 78 million baby boomers eligible for
federal benefits. Solutions are needed now, not years from now. Solutions, which could include reduced benefits, increased
taxes or both, are highly unlikely before November's presidential election.
The Fiscal Wake-Up Tour, sponsored by the Concord
Coalition, Heritage Foundation, Brookings Institution and the
comptroller general, is strongly urging the next president to make
entitlement reform a priority early in 2009. In addition to fixing Medicare, the candidates of both
parties need to be forthright about the potential cost of their plans to
expand health-care coverage to the millions of Americans who don't have it
now. No matter what formula for expanding health insurance is employed, the
costs will be enormous. That, too, should be part of the debate.
This article appeared on Pg. 14A