The Social Security 2011 Trustees released their SS and Medicare reports today and as predicted, the corporate media is busy spinning non news into the "sky is falling" stories.
The truth is Social Security is still trillions in surplus. Not much has changed since the 2010 Trustees Report. Current revenues are down because of the shitty economy and the lack of good paying jobs. Interest on bonds are still in surplus so any "in the red" nonsense you hear is counting only a small part of revenues. Let me repeat, the program is still running a surplus.
With Medicare, health care reform improved the solvency of the program. Medicare is expensive because health care is expensive. If we allowed Part D to negotiate on drug prices and allowed everyone to join the program, we'd be just fine.
Just an addendum here. What drives me nuts about the pundits and even gov't officials like Geithner is instead of trying to improve the economy and get people back to work, they keep talking about cutting these programs to "save" them. Why not fix the root cause of the problem?
Get more info analysis the following advocacy organizations:
NCPSSM
"It's important Americans understand the 2011 Trustees Report confirms that Social Security and Medicare continue to fulfill their mission, providing retirement and health security to millions still suffering during the worst economic crisis of a generation. Beyond the doom-and-gloom news headlines and calls to cut these programs in order to 'save' them, the fiscal facts in this annual report show that Social Security has a $2.6 trillion surplus which continues to grow. While healthcare reform has extended the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund, the economic recession and high healthcare costs continue to take their toll. The bottom line is Social Security is not in crisis and further reforms to our healthcare system are necessary to bring down costs nationwide, not just in Medicare." Max Richtman, Executive Vice President/Acting CEO
More Info at the Link:
http://www.ncpssm.org/news/archive/2011_trustees_report/Center for Economic Policy and Research
Social Security projected to run a surplus of $69 billion in 2011.
The 2011 Social Security trustees report is far more optimistic about life expectancy than last year's report. It projects that men who turned age 65 in 2010 can expect to live another 18.6 years compared with the 18.1 figure projected in last year's report. Life expectancy for women at age 65 was projected at 20.7 years in the 2011 report, compared with 20.4 years in the 2010 report.
The Rest at the Link:
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/data-bytes/social-security-bytes/jump-in-life-expectancy-assumptions-drives-latest-social-security-projectionsCenter on Budget Policy and Priorities
The new report from Medicare’s trustees shows little change from last year’s report in the long-run outlook for the program, while indicating that the program continues to face significant financing challenges. Partly because the trustees now foresee a modestly slower economic recovery that will reduce Medicare payroll tax revenues relative to earlier estimates, they estimate that Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund will become insolvent in 2024 — five years sooner than they projected last year.
The Rest at the Link:
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3494
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