How Will U.S. Fund Entitlements?

At IBD, "Social Security Report Alarming; But D.C. Calm":

Disability beneficiaries face steep cuts in just three years under current law and today's new retirees are expected to outlive the Social Security Trust Fund by two years.

Yet the annual report from the Social Security and Medicare Trustees was taken in stride in D.C., as a full-fledged effort at entitlement reform remains far from the agenda.
When asked about how the administration would avoid scheduled disability benefit cuts of 20%, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew alluded to "the 1990s and policy choices made in time" to avert a similar set of cuts.

That policy choice involved one Social Security trust fund, the main Old Age and Survivors Insurance fund, lending to another in 1994. Almost 20 years later, even as Social Security is expected to run an annual cash deficit of $75 billion, the current administration is signaling that it's prepared to kick the can again. That is, unless it gets a big-enough tax hike to minimize benefit cuts.

Meanwhile, the White House hailed the "good news for seniors and taxpayers" that Medicare's hospital insurance program will be solvent through 2026.

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