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“The story we expected and the story we got was that the shortfall was becoming a more urgent situation,” said Charles Blahous, a former public trustee of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds about the latest reports on the programs’ finances.

The Congressional Budget Office, in its “Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018-2028,” says that our federal debt is projected to be on a steadily rising trajectory throughout the coming decade.

Not only is (Medicare) facing the same demographic upheaval, it’s also coping with the harsh fluctuations of healthcare costs, which are not set, under current models, to stabilize like the senior population.

This is a guest post by Concord Coalition intern Rob Ryan

This is a guest post by Concord Coalition intern Rob Ryan

“I think our issue is in outer space at the moment,” said Robert L. Bixby, executive director of The Concord Coalition.

 An unexpected weakening in the finances of Social Security and Medicare has raised concern about the bedrock programs for the middle class. The problems may only keep getting worse in a time of political tension and deep partisan divisions. . . . 

Social Security will spend more than it collects this year, the program’s trustees said Tuesday, marking the first time in more than 35 years that it will run an annual deficit as it slides toward insolvency by 2034.

By Rob Ryan

WASHINGTON -- The Concord Coalition said today that this year’s reports from the Social Security and Medicare trustees again show that these programs need substantial reforms to put them on sustainable paths without squeezing other national priorities out of the federal budget.