Friday, January 13, 2012

Medicare’s Fiscal Hole STILL Larger than Greek Deficit

The Wall Street Journal reported this morning on the status of Greek debt restructuring, which was complicated by yesterday’s announcement that the Greek government ran a budget deficit of € 21.6 billion, or about $27.4 billion at current exchange rates.

However, these Greek budget deficits – which have created a fiscal crisis in Europe, and the threat of financial contagion spreading to the American banking system – are dwarfed by the ongoing deficits facing the Medicare program.  The Congressional Budget Office projected that Medicare Part A spent nearly $40 billion more than it takes last year, and run a further deficit of nearly $30 billion this year.  The only thing keeping the Medicare program afloat currently are the paper IOUs in the Medicare trust fund, and the Congressional Budget Office projects that even those will be exhausted within the decade.

The fiscal turmoil in Greece and throughout Europe provides the prime example of why our entitlements like Medicare should be fixed NOW; after all, the President’s own chief of staff admitted that the program “will run out of money in five years if we don’t do something.”  But what has the President proposed to solve these looming problems?  A deficit plan that would actually INCREASE Medicare spending, unless the President finds another $300 billion to pay for a long-term physician payment “doc fix” that the White House magically assumes would be offset.

The fact that Medicare’s fiscal shortfalls exceed that of the troubled Greek economy and government provide further indication why “We Can’t Wait” until after the President’s re-election campaign to reform our unsustainable entitlements.