"I am reminded of that old saying - the closest thing to eternal life on his planet, is a government program. It never dies. Thank you Joe Manchin, for having enough guys to be like the Little Dutch Boy, and putting your fingers in the fiscal dike."
Some of the folks who follow this kind of stuff, has been hitting the klaxon for quite a while now. About what? About Medicare. Like, it is running out of money. The problem with Medicare is, too many people are drawing from the fund, who have not put enough in (or nothing). That is been going on for a while now. If the truth be told, Medicare and Social Security were always predicated upon the fact that many would not live long enough to draw from them. But now most folks do make it to 65. Plus, with SSI, and all the immigrants and refugees who have been "grandfathered in" to the program, we have until 2026 until Medicare starts to run dry.
What is the best thing to do when the Medicare fund is in trouble? Offer Medicare to everybody! That is what the Democrats want to do. How do we pay for this? Unknown. If we did offer Medicare to all, the year 2026 might come around a whole lot sooner - like in 2022.
What about Medicaid? In the new Biden "Human Infrastructure" Bill, in the midst of all these swirling dollars, there is money to fund an additional 2.2 million people in the Medicaid Program. Mostly from the 12 states which have refused Obamacare expansion in the past. Joe Manchin does not like this idea. Fiscally irresponsible. So this might be a deal killer.
Now we come to the real issue. Where are all the budget hawks these days? The Republicans have shown they can spend money almost as fast as the Democrats can. And in the Senate, the closest thing the Democrats have to budget hawks, are now Manchin and Sinema. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare - are all fiscal train wrecks. Plus, if the "Human Infrastructure" Bill passes, Heaven only knows what is inside that thing.
I am reminded of that old saying - the closest thing to eternal life on his planet, is a government program. It never dies. Thank you Joe Manchin, for having enough guts to be like the Little Dutch Boy, and put your fingers in the fiscal dike. Will that last? Probably not. All I know is this. Medicare and Medicaid are both a mess. And all Biden does, is throw gas on that fire.
The real crime here is that all these entitlement programs could easily be reformed to remain solvent forever, but politically it seems impossible. Maybe when these programs "go over the falls" we'll think about it, too late.
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