Are we focusing on “fixing” the wrong social program?
While Social Security is expected to exhaust its reserves in 2042, Medicare should deplete the trust fund financing its hospital benefits in 2019, the latest forecasts show.
In addition to the timing, what about the magnitude?
Social Security, which Bush has hoisted atop his domestic agenda, is $3.7 trillion short of what it will need for benefits over the next 75 years, under the latest federal projections. Medicare, the health care program for the elderly, must find an estimated $27.8 trillion. (NOTE: Emphasis added)
So, which is the true crisis?