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Social Security and Health Care |
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The Issue A society can be judged on how well it treats its poor. The social safety net is a term used to describe a collection of services provided by the state (including Social Security, welfare, health care and housing) to ensure the well being of its citizens and to prevent people from falling into poverty. However, there is a shift in U.S. society away from protecting the common good and toward increased individualism, meritocracy, individual ownership, and privatization of essential services. At the same time, the U.S. government subsidizes businesses with almost $125 billion annually through special corporate tax breaks; direct government subsidies to pay for advertising, research and training costs; and incentives to pursue overseas production and sales. While Congress institutes dramatic cuts in funding for safety net programs for individuals and families, the safety net for corporations remains secure, further widening the gap between the rich and the poor in the United States. The privatization of Social Security, a proposal to allow younger workers to divert part of their Social Security payments to investment accounts, is currently being debated. The merits of privatization are questionable. Social security is a social insurance program - insurance against old age, disability and death - not a pension plan that might earn a higher rate of return than it does now. It is the most efficient of all of the American antipoverty programs, and benefits over five million children, either directly as beneficiaries or indirectly as members of households that receive a monthly Social Security check. Numerous politicians and commentators have claimed that the insolvency of Social Security is one of the greatest threats to the living standards of future generations. However, recent reports show that rising health care costs should be of much greater concern. The United States pays more than twice as much per person for health care as other wealthy countries, yet it has shorter life expectancies. Rising health care costs pose an enormous threat to the Federal budget, but more importantly, they pose a threat to the health and well being of U.S. citizens. The financial outlook for Social Security has improved marginally since 2000. In contrast, Medicare's financial outlook has deteriorated dramatically over the past five years and is now much worse than that of Social Security. IHMs in Action If you don't have Adobe Reader, you can download the latest version here.
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