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There seems to be some sort of consensus that the only path for SocSec is to keep separate from the federal budget.
I believe political progress could be made if that were truly the case and no book-keeping shenanigans were involved.
Then raising the retirement age in stages AND removing the existing cap on income
would be acceptable because it would spread the pain to everyone.
On the other hand, reducing Medicare reimbursements is just a hidden way of passing additional costs on
to the elderly because they will be billed for the bigger gap in payments to hospitals and physicians.
In the long run, I suspect it will take a requirement that physicians and hospitals "accept Medicare",
meaning they can't charge Medicare/Medicaid patients more than the patient's Medicare and private insurance level allows.
This used to be the case when patients had no other liquid resources,
but with the new Medicare rules and bankruptcy laws it just is not happening anymore.
Now, when a patient is admitted to hospitals for something serious, the finance office immediately begins
looking for the family's assets and is ready to put a lien on the patient's home.
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