Financial problems of Medicare make tax cut extension irresponsible, editorial states

[May 08, 2006]

      The release last week of the Medicare and Social Security trustees' annual reports on the finances of the programs coincided with congressional negotiators' approval of President Bush's tax cut extensions, "underscor[ing] the terrible fiscal predicament that Mr. Bush has chosen to bequeath to his successor," a Washington Post editorial states. According to the editorial, the reports predict that the Medicare and Social Security trust funds will be depleted in 2018 and 2040, respectively, and that the programs will be spending more than they take in far sooner than that. However, the "best Mr. Bush can come up with" to address the problem "is a bipartisan commission" to study the programs' finances, and "even that seems to be only make believe," the Post says. Meanwhile, Bush is "a lot more energetic" when "it comes to ensuring the permanence of his tax cuts," pushing through an extension until Jan. 1, 2011, that will "drai[n] the treasury of needed revenue," according to the Post. The editorial concludes, "The breathtaking irresponsibility of this won't become totally clear until Mr. Bush is back on the ranch," but "history's verdict is predictable: bad enough to squander a chance to improve the nation's health while there was still time; unforgivable to make it so much worse" (Washington Post, 5/8).