Editorial: Social Security, Medicare at risk

April 26--So many warning sirens are sounding from Washington, D.C., these days that it's easy to overlook one that signals trouble for a pair of entitlements that touch almost every American.

Perhaps you've heard: Social Security and Medicare, a pair of immensely popular government programs that benefit millions of citizens, are running out of money. It's an urgent, though not particularly headline-grabbing, problem.

But if serious people don't start paying attention, the woes of Social Security and Medicare will become the crises that crowd out all the others.

Put simply, both programs are or soon will be paying out more than they're bringing in. Worse, they are borrowing from future generations to do so, compounding a problem just as Baby Boomers are beginning -- or have begun -- retirement. That aging of a generation threatens the financial futures of younger generations, which are decades from retiring but are still paying into an unbalanced system. That is why America faces a slow-motion disaster.

Remedies are many, but few are popular. For example, to fix Social Security, Congress could raise the cap on the income levels for those who pay a Social Security tax. That would raise additional revenue. But the system was designed to be a way to set aside enough money to help survive in retirement. It was sold as something other than a means for the government to soak the rich.

Congress could raise the retirement age. It could use different formulas to calculate cost-of-living increases. It could change the way retirement benefits are taxed. It could move to a hybrid system of private investment and government checks.

Whatever the consensus, Congress and the president ought to do something. Social Security is something that many Americans have earned through years of hard work and contributions, and are counting on during retirement. It would be unfair, at the end, to change the rules they've worked under for decades.

Similar issues plague Medicare, which is the health insurance program that covers people of retirement age. A new report says Medicare is headed for the rocks at an even faster clip than Social Security, meaning if nothing changes some retirees won't be able to cover their medical costs, which typically increase with age.

The most obvious, and perhaps least popular thing to do would be to raise the Medicare tax -- the slice taken from workers' paychecks to fund the system. But concerted, sustained efforts to bend the health care cost curve downward are also essential. Can more care be provided remotely, over the internet? Can drug costs be negotiated down to make medications more affordable? Can the level of improper billing and outright fraud be cut down to be less wasteful and more efficient?

The cost of health care remains an enormous problem, both for the individuals who are at the mercy of the medical system and for the economy as a whole. The American health care system obviously would benefit by new approaches that encourage healthier living and more efficient delivery of care.

Meanwhile, the cascading promises of pandering politicians that the government (i.e., taxpayers) can provide endless mountains of "free stuff" to everyone, when these two long-established programs remain at risk, seem to defy common sense.

The sirens are wailing.

___

(c)2019 The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.)

Visit The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) at www.projo.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.