Cassidy: We Must Get Serious About Saving Medicare and Social Security from Bankruptcy

Statement

U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy, and member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement today regarding the latest annual reports by the trustees of Social Security and Medicare.

"Medicare and Social Security are incredibly important programs, which we learned today are in extreme jeopardy," said Dr. Cassidy. "If we wish to preserve these programs for those who are on them, and strengthen them for those who have paid into them and rightly expect to receive benefits, we must modernize them and address the underlying fundamentals that are so broken. This includes lowering health care costs. President Trump and Congress must work together to do what's right for seniors, future generations, and our country."

According to the trustees' report, this year, "Social Security's total cost is projected to exceed its total income … for the first time since 1982," and "the combined trust funds will be depleted in 2034[.]" Meanwhile, Medicare's trust fund "depletion date is 2026, three years earlier than reported last year," and just eight years away.

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