January 24, 2011
Why does the NYT have to lump Medicare and Social Security together when everyone knows their stories are fundamentally different? According to the Congressional Budget Office, over the next quarter century annual spending on Social Security is projected to increase by an amount equal to 1.4 percentage points of GDP. This is considerably less than the increase in annual defense spending of 1.7 percentage points of GDP between 2001 and 2010. And, Social Security expenditures over this period are fully paid for by past and future Social Security taxes.
In contrast, the cost of Medicare is projected to rise by 2.3 percentage points of GDP over this period, starting from a considerably lower base. The annual cost of Medicaid and other health care programs is projected to rise by 1.9 percentage points. As everyone recognizes, the story of long-term budget deficits is the story of our broken health care system. Why is this so hard to tell the public?
(Thanks to Daniel Alvarado.)
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