It's Medicare, stupid.(The Last Word)

OF THE NATION'S TWO GIANT ENTITLEMENT PROgrams, only one is in real trouble. It's Medicare, not Social Security. As our special supplement makes clear, the Social Security system isn't in a crisis. The system has been in surplus for years now, and those surpluses have been used to cover part of the government's annual budget deficits. After 2018 and continuing through mid-century, the federal government must repay the system what it borrowed, the same way it pays back other bondholders, using revenues from other sources such as income and corporate taxes.

As labor secretary, I ...