Democrats Leading from Behind on Entitlement Reform
“There’s no need to have a Democratic budget…It would be foolish for us to do a budget.”
— Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, May 20, 2011
“I am afraid that the Democrats will draw the conclusion…that we shouldn’t do anything [about Medicare]. I completely disagree with that….You cannot have health care devour the economy.”
— President Bill Clinton, May 25, 2011
Amid the Obama Administration’s request for a debt limit increase that could exceed $2 trillion, it’s worth examining how desperately federal health care entitlements need comprehensive reform—reform that Democrats have failed to put forward:
- Medicare will be insolvent in as little as nine years.
- America’s unfunded liabilities grow by $2 trillion to $3 trillion every year we do not act.
- States face combined budgetary shortfalls totaling $175 billion—yet Obamacare imposes new unfunded mandates on state Medicaid programs totaling at least $118 billion.
- Medicare is projected to run a deficit of more than $39 billion this year—the largest deficit in its history and a shortfall larger than the massive budget deficit that required Greece to accept a European bailout.
- Under current projections, Medicare’s budget will NEVER achieve balance.
- Former Medicare public trustee Tom Saving noted that, in order to solve the program’s long-term funding shortfall without crowding out other federal spending priorities, Part B premiums—currently set at $115.40 per month for most beneficiaries—would need to rise to more than $3,000-$5,000 per month.
Our entitlements cannot survive on their current path; when will Democrats finally produce their plan to save Medicare?