Let’s face it. Medicare reform is a phrase that scares the daylights out of politicians. They know that Medicare is in deep financial trouble, but they also know (or think they know) that seniors and people nearing age 65 will punish them at the polls if they even hint that the program might have to change. What most politicians are unwilling to admit is that the program is changing for the worse, whether older voters like it or not. Today, Senators Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) and Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) leveled with the public on what it takes to save Medicare.
Their plan acts on what the experts have been telling us for a long time: Medicare is in deep financial trouble now, not just ten years from now. For the past four decades, the program has been spending more than it collects in premiums and payroll taxes.