Newswise Law and Public Policy News | Education Campaign Needed on Social Security, Medicare Woes, Expert Says

Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Newswise — Painful but inevitable Social Security and Medicare reforms will be difficult to sell because years of partisan wrangling have clouded the public’s grasp of the programs’ dire financial problems, a former government economic adviser warns.

University of Illinois finance professor Jeffrey R. Brown hopes this week’s report that both programs will run out of money sooner than previously thought will help cut through confusion over the fiscal outlook of the federal retirement and health-care systems.

He blames years of political rancor, including a 2005 standoff during which Democrats sank reforms proposed by President Bush, arguing that his forecast of a funding crisis was fabricated and that both systems would be financially sound for decades. Many Republicans contributed, too, saying the problem was real but could be solved relatively painlessly by allowing people to invest their contributions in the stock market.

“So on one hand, the public hears all of these daunting reports about the need to reform these programs, but on the other hand they hear political leaders saying this is a phony crisis and everything will be fine, or that the problem is real but painless to fix,” said Brown, a former member of the bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board. “Neither of those positions is tenable.”

Brown warns that the challenge is real and worsening, and suggests the U.S. follow Britain’s lead by mounting an extensive public awareness campaign to clear up confusion and make a case for change.....

Newswise Law and Public Policy News | Education Campaign Needed on Social Security, Medicare Woes, Expert Says