The two largest components of the unfunded liability problem are the General Fund deficit and future health care costs. The structural General Fund deficit is the result of more spending and the Bush tax shifts (shifted taxes from today's taxpayers to future taxpayers).
From the following GAO report: "Participants agreed that a key moral context is the impact federal budget deficits will have on future generations. Another key moral context is integrity. Some participants called for greater integrity, e.g., transparency, in the federal budget process."
Here is the report from the GAO:
gao.gov
Future Social Security benefit payments ($3,699 Billion)
Future Medicare Part A benefit payments ($8,236 Billion)
Future Medicare Part B benefit payments ($11,416 Billion)
Future Medicare Part D benefit payments ($8,119 Billion)
Health care costs dwarf SS!
"Health care is a bigger problem than Social Security. Participants acknowledged the need for Social Security reform but emphasized that Social Security is a relatively small part of the long-term fiscal challenge when compared to spending on health care. One participant noted that the estimated Social Security shortfall is about one-third the estimated cost of recent tax cuts if made permanent. Several participants observed that few members of the public are aware of this. Rather, the general public impression is that solving Social Security would solve most of the longterm fiscal challenge, and this is not correct. Indeed, one forum participant stated that it was only by attending this forum that he had learned that health care spending was a much more important, and potentially far more difficult, component of the long-term fiscal challenge than Social Security.
Participants expressed the view that in characterizing the long-term fiscal outlook, several key distinctions needed to be made between Social Security and the largest federal health programs, Medicare and Medicaid. Participants observed that the public was largely unaware that health spending accounted for a much larger share of the long-term fiscal problem than did Social Security." |
