Questions for House Democrats on the Medicare Trigger
- Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark has publicly stated that “Medicare is not in crisis.” Yet the Medicare program faces unfunded liabilities of nearly $86 trillion—more than 70 times the total anticipated losses from subprime mortgages worldwide. Why do House Democrats believe that $1.2 trillion in mortgage losses requires the creation of massive new government programs to help borrowers, while $86 trillion in debt from an existing government program warrants no action at all?
- Democrats have complained that the trigger is an “arbitrary” calculation of the health of the Medicare program. Since they find Medicare’s $86 trillion in unfunded obligations an “arbitrary” figure too low to prompt any concern, how high will Medicare’s expected losses have to rise before Democrats will take action? $100 trillion? $200 trillion?
- “Fixing” the Medicare trigger this year requires finding less than $2 billion in savings during Fiscal Year 2013—this for a program projected to grow over the next five years from $455 billion to $636 billion in spending. Do Democrats really believe that nothing can be done to slow Medicare’s growth in spending from $181 billion to a mere $179 billion over the next five years?
- When debating a resolution turning off the Medicare trigger last July, Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) said that “The perceived problem with Medicare funding has already been addressed.” How is an $86 trillion shortfall a “perceived” problem—and if it has already been addressed, why do Democrats need to take further action turning off the Medicare trigger?
- At a House Appropriations Committee markup last year, an amendment creating a bipartisan commission to examine entitlement spending and make recommendations to Congress was defeated on a largely party-line vote. Why do most House Democrats oppose even creating a commission to study the nation’s impending fiscal crisis due to unsustainable entitlement spending?
- Why do House Democrats believe that wealthy seniors—including billionaires like Warren Buffett and George Soros—should not be asked to pay $2 per day more in premiums for their prescription drug coverage to help improve the solvency of the Medicare program?
- Why would House Democrats embark on a new health care entitlement expansions—paid for by tax increases—without first ensuring the solvency of the existing Medicare benefit?
- When gas prices topped $4 per gallon, a House Democratic aide said that the party’s advice to frustrated families struggling to fuel their cars consisted of “Drive small cars and wait for the wind.” What will Democrats tell seniors and those individuals looking to retire when the Medicare Hospital Trust Fund goes broke in 2019—exactly one decade from now?