Social Security and Medicare Blog

The Hunger Shame: Seniors are More Food Insecure than Ever

A recent report from Meals on Wheels shows a 78% spike in seniors at risk for hunger since 2001. Although senior citizens have a vital lifeline in Social Security and Medicare benefits, rising food prices and health care costs continue to eat away at their fixed incomes.

According to a Huffington Post piece, one in seven seniors in America, some 8.3 million people, are having difficulty affording sufficient food. Certain groups are at a higher risk than others. Seniors age 60-69, minorities and women are more likely to face hunger than the general population. Women make up 60 percent of the population facing a hunger risk and African-Americans and Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to face food insecurity.

Senior citizens on Social Security and Medicare aren’t living “high on the hog,” as some in Washington like to claim when supporting benefit cuts. We should remind Alan Simpson, who once complained seniors were well off driving their Lexus to the Perkins restaurants for AARP discounts, his view of the world doesn’t match up with the facts. We should be finding ways to strengthen Social Security and Medicare benefits, not cut them for those that can afford it the least.

By NCPSSM|May 4th, 2012|Uncategorized|

Busting Myths about the 2012 Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report

No doubt you’ve already seen the screaming headlines promising the immediate bankruptcy of Social Security and Medicare…it’s an annual Washington tradition tied to the release of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees report. Unfortunately, this tradition seldom stems from factual reporting of what’s actually in the trustees report. This year is no exception.To help you sort fact from fiction about the true health of Social Security and Medicare, here is our President/CEO Max Richtman’s reaction to the Trustees’ projections and some data you likely won’t see reported in this week’s news coverage:

?Projections in the 2012 Trustees Reports come as no surprise to anyone who understands how Social Security and Medicare work. The trust fund solvency date for Social Security has seen fluctuations many times in recent decades, from a depletion date as distant as 2048 in the 1988 report to as soon as 2029 in the 1994 and 1997 reports. This year?s report is well within that range. Contrary to the crisis myths perpetuated by fiscal conservatives and many in the media, the prevailing facts show once again that Social Security remains among the nation?s most successful and stable programs. The Trustees report there is now $2.7 trillion in the Social Security trust fund, which is $69 billion more than last year, and continues to grow. Payroll contributions and interest will fully cover benefits for decades to come.? Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO

In the 2012 Trustees report:

Trustees project Social Security will be able to pay full benefits until the year 2033. After that, Social Security will have sufficient revenue to pay about 75% of benefits.
Social Security is still well funded. In 2012, with the economy showing slow signs of recovery, Social Security?s total income still exceeded its expenses by over $57 billion. In fact, the Trustees estimate that total annual income is expected to exceed program obligations until 2020.
Beneficiaries will likely see a Cost of Living Allowance increase of 1.8% in 2013.

The 2012 Trustees report also shows Medicare?s Trust Fund solvency projection remains unchanged at 2024. This reflects the success that health care reform has had in improving Medicare?s solvency. If long-term solvency for Medicare is truly Congress? goal, then repealing health care reform is not an option as it would set back that progress immeasurably.

?The challenges facing Medicare are the same that we see in the broader health care system?the high cost of health care in America. Thanks to health care reform, Medicare will save $200 billion by 2016, but even those savings would be lost if opponents have their way and the Affordable Care Act is repealed. We must allow reform to be fully implemented in order to realize the projected savings.? Max Richtman

The National Committee believes that Congress can also improve the long-term outlook for Social Security with modest and manageable changes in revenue without enacting harmful benefit cuts for current or future retirees. Recent polling has shown that a majority of Americans support lifting the payroll tax cap to ensure Americans contribute at all income levels.

By NCPSSM|April 23rd, 2012|Budget, Max Richtman, Medicare, Social Security|

We Can’t Afford Medicare and Social Security but we Can Afford Tax Cuts for Millionaires

Last night Senate Republicans voted against the so-called ?Buffett Rule? killing this latest hope for tax fairness from Washington, once again. Seniors especially need to remember this vote when their elected leaders tell them that America ?can?t afford? Social Security and Medicare. During last night?s vote some GOP Senators even suggested the poor and middle-class aren?t suffering enough:

“The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that 51 percent of all households, which includes both filers and nonfilers, had either zero or negative income tax liability in 2009,” Kyl said, suggesting it was the middle class and poor who were not sacrificing. “People who do not share in the sacrifice of paying taxes have little direct incentive to care whether the government is spending and taxing too much. Maybe that’s why the president has no problem with even more Americans getting a free ride.” Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ)

Most Americans understand that not earning enough income to have to pay income tax (even though they?re still paying plenty of other federal, state and local taxes) doesn’t mean working Americans are getting a free ride it just shows how much average Americans are suffering in this economy where unemployment, underemployment, and stagnant wages remain all-too-common. Nearly three-quarters of the American people support common-sense tax reform that returns some basic fairness to a system that has allows too many millionaires to pay a lower tax rate than middle class workers.However, conservatives in Washington, in vote after vote, have made it clear they will do whatever it takes to protect tax cuts for the wealthiest among us. In fact, they hope to persuade you that turning Medicare into Couponcare and privatizing Social Security is the kind of ?shared sacrifice? needed to preserve (and even expand) these tax cuts for the millionaires and corporations.Here are some graphs from Think Progress that clearly illustrate what?s at stake:

By NCPSSM|April 17th, 2012|Budget, entitlement reform, Medicare, Presidential Politics, Social Security|

Busting the “Blame Social Security & Medicare” Myth

As the Presidential campaign narrows to an Obama/Romney match-up there is one key issue that should clearly define the choice for American voters ? should poor and middle class beneficiaries, both present and future, pay the price for Washington?s fiscal failures? Does this meet your idea of “shared sacrifice”?Already, fiscal conservatives have ratcheted up their political rhetoric attempting to blame Social Security and Medicare for an economic meltdown and federal deficits they did not create. The GOP/Ryan budget, with Mitt Romney?s endorsement, lays out their economic strategy of benefit cuts for the poor and middle-class combined with even larger tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. Yes, you read that right?more tax cuts for those who need them the least.Demos and the American Prospect created this terrific breakdown of what this flawed fiscal strategy has already done to our economy in their post ?Top Ten Tax Facts -Think you know a lot about government revenue? Think again.? Here are the first 5, but we recommend you read the entire post and share it with your friends if they sound like they’re buying the bogus GOP/Fox News talking points on Social Security, Medicare and deficits:

Top Ten Tax Facts

Ben PeckApril 16, 2012

Think you know a lot about government revenue? Think again.

This piece is the fifth in a six-part series on taxation, and a joint project by The American Prospect and its publishing partner, Demos.1. The government has collected less in taxes as a proportion of the economy in the past three years than it has in any three-year period since World War II, and tax rates are at historic lows.2. One out of three multi-millionaires pays a lower percentage of their income in taxes than the vast majority of people making $60,000 a year.3. Chairman Paul Ryan?s budget proposal, which has been praised by Governor Romney, would deliver benefits to people with incomes over $1 million that are 10 times greater than the benefits to those earning $40,000 or less.4. Corporate income taxes for the past three years have hovered at just over 1 percent of GDP, lower than for any three-year period since World War II. The average for OECD countries is 3.5 percent.5. The Bush tax cuts added $1.7 trillion to the nation?s debt between 2001 and 2008, which is more than it would cost to send 25 million kids to four-year public universities.

You can see all 10 of the Tax Facts here.

lays out their economic strategy of middle-class benefit cuts combined with even larger tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. Yes, you read that right?more tax cuts for those who need them the least.