Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

November 22, 2011

CONTACT:  Apryl Marie Fogel,

aprylmarie.fogel@mail.house.gov                                                                                              

BY: Congressman Paul Gosar, D.D.S., AZ-01                                                                                                                                           

Bloggers Corner - The Scary Truth: Who Is Misleading Seniors?

As a recent arrival to Washington, there are some days when I wonder just what it is about this place that makes people so desperate to stay here that they will do anything, say anything, and scare anyone, in order to make sure that happens.  Oh sure, I had heard of the scare tactics, the lies and half-truths that career politicians spit out, and the spin game Washington insiders are always playing.    But it was not till I started getting calls and letters from exasperated senior citizens that were genuinely afraid, because someone had told them that Congress was going to “gut” their Social Security or “end” Medicare, programs they rely on, that I really understood just how low some would stoop to stay or get back here. 

Personally, I like living in Arizona.  I only travel to D.C. every week to do my duties as a Congressman.  If the worst thing that could happen to me for standing up against the injustice of DC partisan gamesmanship, is that I spend more time at home in Arizona, that would be fine with me.  I’m not a professional politician; I was a dentist for over 25 years.   I ran for Congress last year because like so many I am concerned about the direction of our country.  So here is some plain truth about Social Security, Medicare, and our financial situation.

I believe it is absolutely essential that Congress keep its promises to America’s senior citizens and future generations by protecting these vital programs.  It is also a fact that America is in a fiscal crisis.  Our debt and deficit is too large because the federal government spends too much.  Congress must cut spending, reduce our debt and deficit, and balance the budget.

Neither of these priorities are optional, nor are they mutually exclusive. 

America must keep its promise to its seniors, and it must deal with our debt and deficit.  To accomplish both goals, Social Security and Medicare must be reformed.  Spending on these program (along with Medicaid), make up over 40% of the federal budget, twice as much as defense, and as the baby boomer generation retires, that percentage will continue to climb rapidly.  Unless the problems with these programs are modernized and updated, America faces bankruptcy, and those who depend on Social Security and Medicare will be devastated.   

Let’s get a few silly arguments out of the way: nobody, and I mean nobody, is talking about “ending” Medicare or “gutting” Social Security. I do not support changes to Social Security or Medicare for people who are current beneficiaries or those nearing retirement who would otherwise be unable care for themselves. I would oppose any bill that would do so.  America’s seniors paid into the system for their whole lives and were made a promise that they relied on.  That promise must be kept. 

However, it will take hard work to keep these promises.  President John F. Kennedy recognized this fact many years ago.  In signing a bill reforming Social Security for his era in 1961, President Kennedy stated that, "The Social Security program plays an important part in providing for families, children, and older persons in times of stress. But it cannot remain static. Changes in our population, in our working habits, and in our standard of living require constant revision."  I agree with President Kennedy.  We must continually re-evaluate these important programs to make sure they are working and that they are sustainable.  The numbers are clear: Social Security, along with Medicare, are broken and must be revised to conform to modern circumstances.

The irresponsible politicians and advocacy groups like the AARP who choose to demagogue this issue, claiming that anybody who wants to talk reforming and saving Social Security and Medicare, want to “end” Medicare, or “gut” Social Security, are ignoring President Kennedy’s truthful words.  Who do they think they are kidding?   In fact, the opposite of their claims are true: the current fiscal path of these programs is unsustainable, and any vote against modernizing these programs for future generations is, in effect, a vote to bankrupt the programs.  It is in large part because these voices have prevailed for so long that the country faces the current crisis.  Congress can no longer kick the can down the road; the problem is too great and too immediate.  Anybody who tells you something else clearly is pursuing their own agenda at the expense of the truth, and is advocating for the elimination of these programs.

As you know, Social Security works by taxing today’s workers to pay for today’s retirees. The money current retirees “paid in” during their working years went to pay their parent’s benefits – not to pay their own.  In the 1960s, there were sixteen workers paying into Social Security for every one person receiving benefits, and the average life span of beneficiaries was shorter.  That ratio has dropped to just above three workers for each beneficiary, and the average life span for beneficiaries are longer. 

Medicare faces the same demographic problems, but its problems are compounded further by the government takeover of health care was signed into law.  The 111^th Democrat-controlled Congress, last year cut/stole $500 billion from Medicare in order to help pay for their government takeover.  These terrible changes were supported by AARP.  What is worse, in order to make their plans affordable, they empowered the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) to “control costs,” by setting payments that go to medical providers.  Of course, the Government is incapable of changing the true cost of a medical procedure, and study after study, survey after survey, shows that doctors will either cut back on the amount of Medicare patients they see, or drop them all together, because it is simply not economically viable for them to see them.  Doctors across the country are refusing to take Medicare patients.  As bad as this sounds, it is even worse in a place like Arizona’s First Congressional District, which has large rural areas with fewer doctors than large metropolitan areas.  The loss of a single doctor accepting Medicare patients can be devastating to the many small rural communities within the district. 

Republicans, for their part, have put forward significant proposals to fix these problems.  House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) put forth a budget that would make bold and necessary reforms to Medicare, revamping the system for Americans 55 and younger so that they can choose the private health insurance plan of their choice, and receive assistance from the federal government to do so.  This would allow for competition between providers to reduce costs without artificial, ineffectual government control.  This would save significant amounts of money, particularly over the long run.  I voted for this measure because, while not perfect, it moves the ball in the right direction.  It preserves Medicare for future generations without touching benefits for current retirees or anyone near retirement.   Unfortunately, the Democrat-controlled Senate has not acted on the bill.  In fact, it hasn’t passed a budget at all for about 1000 days, and has proposed no solutions to solve this problem at all. 

There has been less discussion about Social Security in Congress lately, but the problem is no less urgent.  According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), there is a 99% chance that outlays will exceed revenues by 2030.  By the time we hit that point, the country will already be bankrupt.  Congress simply cannot allow it to reach that point.  There are many fixes that have been suggested, raising the retirement age for future recipients, means-testing future Social Security recipients, revising the formula that the Social Security Administration uses to determine cost of living adjustment, and many others.  I am not endorsing any one of these particular suggestions, but I am endorsing a discussion that will honestly deal with the problem.  Some changes that are discussed may be painful, but in the end, to preserve Social Security for future recipients, it must be put on a sustainable path. 

I invite people of all parties and ideologies to discuss these problems and search for solutions.  But let’s do so in an honest way.  Nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to end Social Security or Medicare.  But reforming them is absolutely necessary to keeping them, just like President Kennedy said.  I refuse to vote for insolvency, to bankrupt Social Security and Medicare and hurt those who depend on it and will depend on it.  Starting from that premise, let’s move forward and fix Social Security, Medicare, and our budget.

###