Tuesday, November 23, 2010
By W. LEE HAMMOND
McClatchy-Tribune
Deficit reduction is a thankless task, but there must be a greater purpose behind proposed changes than meeting a budget target.
Recent proposals from the President’s Fiscal Commission are being pitched as a way to strengthen our nation. But don’t be fooled: A close look makes clear that these proposals would seriously harm the health and economic security of American families, and the damage would grow over time.
AARP calls on the fiscal commission and Congress to consider the impact of cuts on real people before proposing any changes to Social Security, or increased costs for those dependent on Medicare, Medicaid and other vital programs. This is an essential, humane standard, and the recent proposals fail to properly meet it.
Ideas floated by the panel’s co-chairs, intended to “help” future generations, would instead increase the health and economic insecurity of future generations, especially those facing retirement. Middle-class workers who already face an economic squeeze would be stuck with far smaller Social Security benefits and far larger health care costs in the future.
Young people entering the workforce today could face a cut in their Social Security benefits of 30 percent or more if these unbalanced proposals were to catch on.
The deficit panel needs a reality check. Americans are struggling in a world of declining pensions, rising health costs, falling home values and low personal savings. Unemployment is dangerously high. About 2 million jobless workers could lose unemployment benefits by year’s end.
Standard of living
Working and middle-class Americans need to protect what they already have. They need more help in planning for their future. The last thing the government should be considering is cutting guaranteed, inflation-protected Social Security benefits that provide an adequate standard of living for people as they age.
Retirees, disabled workers and their families, children who have lost parents, and widows and widowers all would be affected by cuts to Social Security.
Yes, some gradual and moderate changes are needed to preserve a strong Social Security program. But the point must be to strengthen the retirement security of American families and protect future generations, not to reduce a deficit that Social Security did not create. Americans overwhelmingly want Congress to protect their future Social Security benefit — our nation’s most important and effective program — not reduce them.
The commission proposals for health care would further burden average Americans. Again, the greatest, cumulative costs would fall on the sick, who would have to dig deeper and deeper into their pockets to pay for care.
The plan expects individuals to share more costs for Medicare. This amounts to a tax on the sick.
These ideas are both wrong and counter-productive.
Rather than shifting health care costs onto the sick, we need to hold down costs throughout our health care system. Eliminating waste, fraud and abuse and improving the delivery of health care is a good place to start.
Let’s be clear: Older Americans care about the deficit. They want to leave the world a better place than they found it. But smart fiscal policy should increase economic security, not weaken it. There’s a real disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country when budget proposals add to the burden and insecurity of middle-class Americans rather than ease it.
Policymakers should keep in mind that today’s young people will grow old in a world where Social Security and Medicare are needed more than ever. The public understands this. More than 900,000 Americans have signed an AARP petition urging the deficit panel not to cut Social Security to address a deficit it did not cause.
Promise kept
Moreover, Social Security still delivers on its promise. No wonder our surveys show that three out of four adults view it as a foundation for their retirement, as well as their children’s.
The well being of America’s middle class must remain paramount in the budget debate. AARP will work with members of the fiscal commission and other elected leaders to ensure that improving health and retirement security are top priorities.
Surely, working together, we can find a more balanced way to reduce the deficit.
W. Lee Hammond is the president of AARP. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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