Matt Moore, senior policy analyst at the National Center for Policy Analysis wrote the following pice today. I believe he has hit upon one of the major causes for this Countrys'financial disaster or the worst betrayal by Our Government if this program fails.
Unfortunately, for too many years the Congress has had no "spine" to address the growing problem that awaits when there are more Medicare recipients than there are workers to generate the taxes to support the program. His piece has been copied below in part.
"But this time, just maybe, it will turn out different, says Moore. This time the president and Congress have to do something about it:
An obscure provision in the 2003 law that added prescription drugs to Medicare requires the Medicare trustees to raise a flag if two consecutive reports predict Medicare will draw more than 45 percent of its funding from general revenues within the next seven years.
In short, if Medicare is expected to drain too much income tax money from the federal government within the next seven years, the trustees have to alert Congress.
The 2006 report was the first to cross the threshold, and this year's report required the trustees to officialy sound the alarm.
Both the President and congressional leaders should take the warning to heart: Medicare is growing really fast, says Moore:
Within the next two decades, Medicare will drain almost a quarter of federal income tax revenue.
By 2030, about the midpoint of the baby boomer retirement years, Medicare will take more than a third.
Eventually, Medicare spending will drain nearly every tax dollar the government raises; in all, we're talking somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 trillion.
As a result, we need to rethink how Medicare works, says Moore. For example, we could combine all the parts of Medicare, including the prescription drug benefit and individually-purchased Medigap policies, into a single plan with a single premium. In addition, people should be allowed and encouraged to save money while working to fund future elderly health care benefits."
We hope Congress stops trying to destroy the President and will finally address some of the fiscal problems that must be fixed if this Republic is to survive, but I won't hold my breath until they do. Partisan politics has made a circus of our Congress, and I don't expect it to stop very soon.
It is time for Americans to elect fiscal conservatives who will save our dollar and our economy. We have had enough of the politicians who get to Washington by promising more government programs.The march toward Socialism has been relentless on both sides of the isle. Now it is time for us to stop it!
