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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFACT CHECK: Medicare and Social Security are NOT going bankrupt
Last night, during the vice presidential debate with Joe Biden, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan lied to the American people. He said, Medicare and Social Security are going bankrupt. These are indisputable facts.
This statement was a bald-faced lie. Neither program is going bankrupt any time soon. Heres our quick explainer why:
Social Security: Its currently projected to be fully solvent until the year 2037. After that, it is expected to be able to pay out 75 percent of benefits until 2084, which basically equals full benefits, once inflation is accounted for. There is no threat of the program running out of money any time soon. We could make it solvent far into the future if we simply raised the payroll tax cap meaning that income above $106,000 would be taxed just like income below that amount is. Lifting the cap would require the wealthy to pay a tiny bit more so that the program would be safe and secure. Even a majority of self-identified Tea Partiers find this to be a good idea versus cutting Social Security by raising the retirement age.
Medicare: According to the Medicare Trustees annual report that was released in April 2012, the Hospital Insurance (Part A) Trust Fund has sufficient reserves to pay out the full amount of Medicare Part A benefits until 2024 the same projection made in last years report. Should nothing else change, and the Trust Fund reserves be depleted in 2024, the Trust Fund would still receive sufficient income from the payroll taxes and other revenue through which it is funded to pay 87% of anticipated Part A expenses. And all of that is based on a projection based on a poor economy as the economy improves, so will the projection. Medicare is not going bankrupt. Medicare would still have most of the necessary funds to pay those expenses and other parts of the program would be unaffected, says University of North Carolina health policy expert Jonathan Oberlander in reference to the 2024 date. Medicare wont go bankrupt in the literal sense in 2016 or 2024 or 2064or ever. Although Medicares financial state is secure well into the future, we can always improve it by stopping drug companies from ripping it off. We could save tens of billions of dollars every year as Vice President Biden suggested during the debate if we stood up to Big Pharma lobbyists by simply allowed Medicare to negotiate for drug prices.
Neither Medicare nor Social Security are going bankrupt. The media and public should not be fooled by Paul Ryans lies. They are designed to trick Americans into accepting the sort of society an Ayn Rand acolyte like Ryan wants us to live in where everyone is on their own, and a wealthy elite is the only class who gets to have a comfortable retirement.
http://boldprogressives.org/paul-ryan-lied-medicare-and-social-security-are-not-going-bankrupt/
Report1212
(661 posts)You just know the Republicans are going to make a last-minute play in the lame duck session to force the Democrats to cut Social Security and/or Medicare. We have to arm people with the truth.
ProfessionalLeftist
(4,982 posts)And email to friends/family. They've (Republicans) hated these programs since their inception. They'll use any excuse they can find to advocate for their destruction.
PETRUS
(3,678 posts)Thanks for posting this.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Anybody mention that?
jsr
(7,712 posts)1springhill
(63 posts)She was the one right off who in her question said that medicare and social security were going bankrupt. Pissed me off!
leftstreet
(36,117 posts)redqueen
(115,103 posts)marions ghost
(19,841 posts)very important...to keep refuting the myth that SS & medicare will be bankrupt. Too many people are willing to believe it because they are worried about everything financial. But is is a lie.
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)more than the supposed 'bankruptcy' would.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)the Masterminds of the Right do that "lowering of expectations over time" strategy all too well....you can see the lo-info voters falling for it every time. They are already accepting too much compromise and loss of what should be "rights," in a civilized society-- but they'll listen to any snake oil salesman. Sad.
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)And Biden avoided agreeing with but did not challenge the premise.
Report1212
(661 posts)The moderators of debates need to stick to the truth, they should be the arbiters of it. Raddatz failed at that.
Phlem
(6,323 posts)Entitlements. It's fucking insurance that we pay into!
I hate that fucking "entitlement" meme.
-p
closeupready
(29,503 posts)"entitlement" - even though technically, taxpayers ARE entitled to collect benefits.
Just as you are entitled to a house you own, or a car you bought, or unemployment benefits.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)econoclast
(543 posts)Maybe before we do a fact check, we ought to do a definition check.
"Bankrupt" doesn't mean that you can't meet ANY of your obligations ... It means you can't meet ALL of your obligations.
So if in the not distant future, SS and MC can only meet 75% and 87% respectively of their obligations then they are going bankrupt. They will be unable to meet ALL of their obligations and that is what being bankrupt means.
We can't fix a problem we refuse to admit exists.
Report1212
(661 posts)When for, example, SS and Medicare taxes don't cover all expenses -- and with medicare this is frequent -- they are paid for with general revenue. So I guess the DOD is bankrupt because it's 100% paid for by general revenues?
econoclast
(543 posts)DoD is SUPPOSED to get its funding from general revenue.
But SS and MC are segregated, stand alone programs with their own dedicated income streams. If those assets and income streams can't meet the obligations ... They are in trouble.
Example... My rich uncle's ex wife doesn't have a job, but she isn't bankrupt. She gets alimony from my rich uncle. She's supposed to get income from him by court order. If I, on the other hand, can't pay my bills and have go to my rich uncle with hat in hand .... I'm in trouble.
Report1212
(661 posts)The Medicare program in particular is supposed to get part of its funding stream from the dedicated taxes but part from general revenue. You can't say a program is going bankrupt if it is being funded, else the entire government is bankrupt because taxes do not cover its cost.
econoclast
(543 posts)When talking about bankrupcy, one is considering only the ability to meet obligations.
Consider anyone who buys a home using mortgage finance. They borrow much more than their current income, but they have suffucient income to make the mortgage payments. Other things being equal .... They are not bankrupt.
Same with the government as a whole. We borrow more than our current income, but have sufficient income to make the payments on the debt incurred. So the government as a whole isn't bankrupt.
But ... Even the OP cites the fact that at some point in the not too distant future SS and MC will only have sufficient funding to meet 75% and 87% of their obligations.
Hence they are accurately described as going bankrupt. They are not bankrupt - yet. But on the current trajectory soon will be.
On the day you can only afford to pay 75% of your rent and 75% of your car loan and 87% of your car insurance and 87% of your electric bill and 75% of your gas bill etc ... YOU'RE BANKRUPT!
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Take out a loan. Wait, isn't that just kicking the can down the road?
In the govt case there are 2 things it can do:
Take out a loan
Raise revenue via law
What govt should not do, but what the republicans want to do is lower benefits.
Report1212
(661 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)than 4 or 5 years is the problem. Think of where our economy was in 1970 and what had happened by 1975 and then what happened by 1980 and 1985 and 1990 and 1995 and so on.
Economic estimates of what will be in 20 years are nothing but wild conjecture fueled by an agenda.
ananda
(28,879 posts)That really pissed me off. She doesn't seem much of a journalist
nor very knowledgeable about the actual intentions of our founders
with regard to separation of church and state.
fascisthunter
(29,381 posts)Wilms
(26,795 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)It's total bullshit that has been repeated so often people have come to believe it.