THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO PRESERVE SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE
~ Celebrating 25 Years of Advocacy for Older Americans ~

February 18, 2008

NEWS RELEASE

Slashing Social Security and Medicare Won't Balance the Federal Budget

Economic and Policy Experts Debunk the “Entitlement Crisis” Myth

Anti-entitlement groups are spending millions of dollars waging a public relations and lobbying campaign to convince Congress that cutting Social Security and Medicare will somehow undo the damage of eight years of failed economic policies.  Today, leading economic and policy experts briefed Congressional staff on the myth behind the so-called “entitlement crisis”.

“The opponents of these programs have changed their tactics and rhetoric over the years, but never their convictions – that Social Security and Medicare represent an unwarranted expansion of government and therefore cannot be allowed to survive in their current forms.  The long-term deficit is real but it is not caused by Social Security or Medicare. The bottom line is we can afford Social Security and Medicare in the future, and indeed, we should be focusing on strengthening these critical programs rather than cutting them.” Barbara B. Kennelly ; President and CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare; and Former Member of Congress.

Based on projections by the Congressional Budget Office, if every entitlement in the federal budget were repealed outright – eliminating Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and other critical programs – but nothing were done to slow the growth in health care costs overall, we would still find ourselves spending almost 70 percent of GDP on health care by 2082.

“It's wrong to say we face an entitlement crisis.  We face a very long and difficult challenge to reform our healthcare system.  Bipartisan consensus must be found to deal with healthcare reform.” Henry Aaron , Economic Studies Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

As Mr. Aaron has said before, “Misdiagnosis is just as likely to lead to ineffective or even harmful treatment in economics as in medicine”.

“We can afford Social Security in the future.  In fact, the increase in Social Security's obligation over 25 years is less than national security spending increases over just the past seven years. That obligation is also smaller than the spending increases in education we faced decades ago as we educated the baby boom generation.” Virginia Reno , Vice-President for Income Security, National Academy of Social Insurance

The National Committee has released a new Viewpoint, “Commissions, Cuts, and Crisis Calls: Why Balancing the Budget on the Backs of Social Security and Medicare Just Won't Work” .  That viewpoint can be found here . A video of today's briefing will also be available beginning Friday, February 20.

Media Inquiries to:
Pamela Causey 202-216-8378/202-236-2123
Kim Wright 202-216-8414
www.ncpssm.org