Issue Position: Preserving Social Security and Medicare

Issue Position

Social Security and Medicare are a pledge that we have made to our senior citizens, and we must keep that promise. This promise also means that we must also reform these programs in order to strengthen them and preserve them for future generations.

President Obama took huge cuts out of Medicare in order to fund Obamacare, and the program is scheduled to be bankrupt in 2024. Patrick supports reforms that give consumers choices with their healthcare, reforms that will also strengthen Medicare and ensure that it is available for future generations.

Congress must also act to preserve and strengthen Social Security. Without action, Social Security will also go bankrupt. In the 1950s, there were 16 workers supporting every retiree on Social Security. Currently, there are only 3.3 workers per retiree, and when the baby boomers retire, there will be only two workers supporting every Social Security recipient. As the program currently exists, it will go completely bankrupt in 2041.

Patrick believes in transforming and modernizing the Social Security system -- as many industrialized countries have done -- to allow younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in a nest egg that they can pass on to their children and grandchildren. Just like federal workers invest their pensions in safe options of bond and stock funds, younger workers should be able to do the same. This will keep the system solvent for decades to come.

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