The President’s speech last week was the first time the President or his party has acknowledged what we have all known for years: Medicare is going broke, fast. Medicare’s sustainability has grown so perilous that even the President has now said we must reform the program in order to strengthen and preserve it.
"But here’s the truth: Millions of Americans rely on Medicare in their retirement. And millions more will do so in the future. They pay for this benefit during their working years. They earn it. But with an aging population and rising health care costs, we are spending too fast to sustain the program. And if we don’t gradually reform the system while protecting current beneficiaries, it won’t be there when future retirees need it. We have to reform Medicare to strengthen it."
- President Barack Obama, September 8, 2011
In fact, unless we act, we cannot guarantee Medicare will be there for you when you need it. Washington has known this fact for years. The independent Medicare Trustees have been issuing increasingly urgent calls for reform of the program in order to strengthen it – with the final date of reckoning moving closer and closer from 2029 to 2024 to 2017 – a mere five years away.
The House Republicans, recognizing this irrefutable fact, introduced and passed a plan more than five months ago that would preserve Medicare as-is for everyone 55 and older and ensure that Medicare will be there for you and your children and your grandchildren when you need it. Until last week, we had only heard scare tactics from those across the aisle who would prefer to ignore Medicare while it becomes insolvent and to demagogue the issue to prevent any and all efforts to strengthen Medicare.
Population growth and rising health care costs only compound the accounting problems for Medicare, making it more difficult to address as time passes. The longer we put off reform, the more drastic reform will have to be to address Medicare’s insolvency.
While we seek to preserve Medicare into future generations, we must also seek to create jobs for the current generations of unemployed, underemployed, and insecurely employed workers. Unfortunately, the President’s jobs plan contains many recycled ideas and programs from the failed 2009 stimulus. We are reviewing the actual text of the President's plan to see where we can find common ground on new proposals that would help the private sector create jobs. Next week I will write you about the American Jobs Act and the next steps Congress will take in consultation with the White House. Until then, I invite you to review the results of last week's survey on the jobs speech to a joint session of Congress, which you can view in the toolbar on the right.
Sincerely,
Daniel E. Lungren
Member of Congress
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