Skip Humphrey: Social Security isn't the cause of our deficits

Counterpoint

The Star Tribune editorial "Slinking away from U.S. budget reality" (Feb. 14) gave readers the wrong impression about who's at fault for our federal deficits.

Social Security -- and the millions of Americans who rely on it for financial security -- should not shoulder the blame for our fiscal woes. Social Security is a separately financed system that has not contributed one dime to the federal deficit.

The editorial fell short of the "adult conversation" on deficits that it rightly seeks.

For starters, blaming Social Security for the debt problem is like blaming the tooth fairy for all the snow around here this year. It might be convenient, but certainly doesn't make any sense.

Social Security is financed by payroll contributions paid by workers and employers. More broadly, a balanced perspective on fiscal policy should focus more clearly on the tradeoffs involved with any proposed change.

Young people and future generations will face an old age where traditional supports of economic and health security, such as pensions, play a much smaller role.

That means they will need strong programs of Social Security and Medicare even more than their parents and grandparents need them. Policymakers should be careful, as they strive to hit deficit-reduction numbers, that they do not create worse problems for families all over the country.

Budget experts widely agree that Social Security can be put on a stable, long-term course while preserving its essential mission as social insurance for Americans.

Gradual and moderate changes can do the job, while protecting current beneficiaries and treating young people fairly. The most important goal is to strengthen the retirement security of American families.

Likewise, blaming Medicare for the country's fiscal woes (also a target of the Star Tribune editorial) misses the true driver of the debt -- rising health care costs. Medicare's cost increases are troubling.

But if we're serious about addressing them effectively, we need to keep in mind that they are driven primarily by ongoing inflation in the overall health care system. The federal health care reform law enacted new strategies to help contain the cost of Medicare.

Let's give these some time to work and continue to curb health care inflation before proposing strict cuts to Medicare that only shift costs to consumers. Rather than shifting health care costs onto the sick, we need to hold down costs throughout our health care system.

Let's be clear: Older Americans care about the deficit. They want to leave the world a better place than they found it.

They know that we must address the serious challenge of putting our country's fiscal house in order. They also see today's reality of millions of Americans of all ages who are struggling to find employment, strengthen their retirement nest eggs and pay for rising health care costs.

AARP recognizes that the deficits are a challenge that we as a nation must address. Our members want the president and Congress to work together in a constructive, problem-solving spirit to get the job done for the good of our country.

Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey, III, a national board member of AARP, was formerly Minnesota's attorney general.