The Time to Fix Medicare & Social Security is Now!

Yesterday, the silence was deafening. The trustees who monitor Social Security and Medicare announced that the trust funds backing these two critical resources for older persons are running out of money faster than had been contemplated. This should have been front page news and blaring off the cable news outlets. Instead, there was relative silence. In Sacramento, the story was buried on page 12 and CNN carried a tepid blurb on this massive problem

And this announcement came on the heels of the Secretary of Treasury announcing, just yesterday, that it will cost at least $40 trillion to fix the problem. That is correct: $40 trillion. One of the national commentators sniffed and said: "We won't be able to afford anything else." Well, give me a break, we have time to put the best minds together to come up with a solution. We need leadership.

Almost since it’s inception, the Social Security Trust Fund has needed occasional fixes and the same holds true for Medicare. While there is a reasonable amount of time to take on Social Security, the horizon for serious Medicare reform is way too close.

It is obvious that the senior troops are being mobilized to roll out a political sunami to support national health care reform. The proponents will demand that seniors wear their colorful T shirts and swell the crowds demanding health care restructuring. The leadership in the House of Representatives have said that they want as few days of hearings as possible on the proposed legislation and want to have it passed before Congress takes their three week recess for the Fourth of July. Should we not address Social Security and Medicare along with health care reform?

Now is the opportunity for seniors to stand tall to force Congress to begin addressing the short fall in the trust funds before rolling over like trained dogs in a show to do political bidding on health care restructuring. The question, “Where have all the seniors gone?” should be answered by, “We are here, and we are as mad as hell over these political shenanigan.” And even madder about the silence.