Democrats are not content to let the fiscal calamity of our current entitlements undermine our very existence. Rather, having established Social Security, Medicare and a host of welfare programs that only get bigger (even when they were instituted as “temporary”), they have found raising children the next part of life’s work the government is happy to offload of you. I’ll save the arguments for why having the state raise your children is a very bad idea for another time. Instead, let’s just talk about the economic impact of yet another entitlement program. To do so, it’s critical that we look at the history of entitlements here in the US.
Social Security was intended as an insurance program to keep widows from becoming destitute in their final years. From that, we now have an “insurance” program that has no basis in actuarial science, has been expanded to cover those with disabilities and children of deceased workers. Payments are tied to inflation while revenue is not. The result is a program that soon enough, will no longer have sufficient worker/employer contributions to cover current payments. This government run Ponzi scheme will soon require heavy subsidies from general funds to meet its growing obligations.
Medicare started as a health insurance program for those over 65 and Medicaid, similarly for the poor. The idea here was to cover the many Americans who lost their health care coverage after retiring or where they lie on the poverty scale. Of course, they only expanded. It began with adding those with disabilities and those needing dialysis. Then it added home care, hospice coverage for the terminally ill, Medigap (expanded coverages through supplemental insurance), no cap catastrophic illness coverage, government paid premiums for the poor (free coverage), prescription drug coverage, and now an Obamacare subsidy and expanded coverages. The poverty level eligibility for Medicaid is now up to 130% of the poverty level. Medicare/Medicaid now accounts for ~17% of all medical care costs in the US.
There is a myriad of other entitlement programs that together along with SS and Medicare/Aid currently soak up ~18% of the entire federal budget. (http://www.federalsafetynet.com/welfare-budget.html). Big government wonks love this. It gives them more power over our lives and because we become dependent on them, we must keep returning them to power. Adding another massive log on the entitlement fire is just expanding their reach into our lives. Because those instituting these programs will not be accountable when they cause great harm down the road, they ride the “hero” train today. They’ll ride off to enjoy a cushy retirement leaving us with the gargantuan debt and the unenviable task of telling millions now dependent on the largesse, benefits must be cut. Presidents FDR (SS), Truman/Johnson (Medicare/Aid) and Johnson, (War on Poverty/welfare) are all long gone but their legacy of ever-expanding entitlement programs live on. Gone too are the many legislators who piled on by handing out more “candy to the kids”. Where is the hero that stands up and says entitlements are undermining our very country rather that propping it up? Well intentioned actions that are ill fated. The attempt to add more massive entitlements is another affront to our fiscal sensibilities and should be called out for what it is, a naked attempt to enslave we citizens.
Current Day Publius 