Work Longer, Die Sooner! America’s Dire Need to Expand Social Security and Medicare – msn
“Steuerle and Kramon prop up their plan with studies that extol the health and wellbeing perks of working into old age, adding that “each generation lives longer” and therefore, it’s a patriotic duty for the elderly to stay on the job.
“Are we all really living longer? Let’s first point out that Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, noted for their research in health and economics, recently showed that many Americans are not, in fact, enjoying extended lives. As they stated in their own New York Times op-ed, those without college degrees are “scarred by death and a staggeringly shorter life span.” According to their investigation, the expected lifespan for this group has been falling since 2010. By 2021, people without college degrees were expected to live to about 75, nearly 8.5 years shorter than their college-educated counterparts.
“Overall life expectancy in America dropped in 2020 and 2021, with increases in mortality across the leading causes of death and among all ages, not just due to COVID-19. In August 2022, data confirmed that Americans are dying younger across all demographics. Again, the U.S. is an outlier. It was one of two developed countries where life expectancy did not bounce back in the second year of the pandemic.
“So the argument that everyone is living longer greatly stretches the truth—unless, of course, you happen to be rich: A Harvard study revealed that the wealthiest Americans enjoy a life expectancy over a decade longer than their poorest counterparts.”
Do Pay-as-You-Go Entitlements Create Unfunded Liabilities? – James Capretta/AEI
“Complicating the picture still further is the argument, made recently by the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration, that Social Security cannot contribute to future debt accumulation because benefits can be paid from the program’s trust funds only to the degree they are covered by incoming revenue or from reserves. After 2033, with the trust funds projected to run short of funding compared to benefit commitments, the expectation is that spending would have to be cut to prevent annual deficits. Put another way, if it is correct to view the trust funds as limiting Social Security and Medicare outlays, then these programs can never build up unfunded liabilities.
“Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections provide a different perspective. The agency adheres to the long-standing practice of including spending on entitlements based on benefit rules reflected in current law even when the trust funds are expected to run short of funds. Consequently, for both Social Security and Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI), CBO assumes spending on benefits will continue indefinitely even after the trust funds run short in the 2030s, which is one important reason federal debt is expected to rise rapidly. In effect, CBO assumes Congress will authorize borrowing as needed to prevent benefit cuts.
“Which argument is most compelling depends on one’s perspective. In the US context, it seems unlikely that Congress would allow automatic cuts in Social Security and Medicare, which would affect the very old and new retirees equally. On the other hand, Congress has never relied on borrowing to such a degree to pay for Social Security and Medicare, so it is also not unreasonable to think their unfunded liabilities will have to be addressed, one way or another.”