Entitlements—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—threaten to bankrupt the nation. The unsustainable tsunami of spending on these programs is fueled by demographic changes and rapidly rising health care costs. Absent transformational reforms, the entitlements would cause federal spending to explode from the historical average of 20 percent of the economy to over 40 percent by 2050. Unlike other parts of the federal budget, such as defense or most education programs, Congress does not review and approve the level of funding for these programs annually or…ever. Rather, their expansion is on autopilot, and accelerating as 77 million baby boomers flood into these entitlements. The uncontrolled growth in entitlement spending is crowding out other budget priorities, such as providing for the national defense, a core constitutional duty of Congress. This growth in spending is also poised to send the U.S. down the path toward an economic crisis of Greece-like proportions. Entitlements further pose a moral challenge. It is simply wrong to make unsustainable promises to today’s adults by shackling our children and grandchildren with crippling debt or heavy taxes.
See the web’s best visual presentation of federal spending, taxes, debt, and entitlements. Read More.
Issues 2012 provides candidates for elected office the ability to quickly identify the key issues of the day and present clear policy recommendations, supported by facts, for addressing them. Read More.
The Heritage Foundation offers a detailed plan to redesign entitlement programs, guarantee assistance to those who need it, and save the American dream for future generations. Read More.
David John discusses Medicare and Social Security on PBS News Hour. …
Abstract: One element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the advancement of “comparative effectiveness research” (CER). Intended to compare available treatment options, CER can benefit patients if used for informational purposes only, but it could also be harmful in practice.…
Executive Summary The United States is at a fiscal tipping point—mostly due to the explosive growth in federal entitlement spending, especially on Medicare. The long-term unfunded liability of the Medicare program—promised benefits that are not financed—is almost…
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) has once again pushed the outside of the fiscal envelope, presenting a budget that reaches balance in just five years—twice as fast as the group’s proposal a year ago—through entitlement reforms, deep spending reductions, and no tax increases. This aggressive plan incorporates many elements of…
Abstract: The President’s budget perpetuates a misleading portrayal of the true magnitude of federal spending. This is most clearly evident in the figures for Medicare spending, which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reports as $480 billion for 2011—$80 billion less than the…
In the few months since Washington’s dramatic debt ceiling confrontation, America’s fiscal situation has only worsened. Federal spending is set to soar past previous record-shattering levels, endangering the economic future of the nation. This is a moral issue because younger generations will be forced to bear either staggering levels of…
As the national debt races toward $17 trillion and nearly 13 million Americans search fruitlessly for work, America needs bold changes from its leaders. Congress must get federal spending and borrowing under control and get out of the way of job creation in the private sector. …
Abstract: The President’s 2013 budget, released on February 13, repeats the stale and unsuccessful policies of the past three years. The Administration’s apparent vision is one of bigger government, more spending, higher taxes, and deeper deficits. At a time when runaway spending and swelling…
Skyrocketing food-stamp enrollments over the last few years have played a notable role in this year’s presidential race, but it’s not just food stamps that have exploded — it’s entitlements, generally: housing subsidies, Medicaid rolls, college loans and much, much more. And the trend…
Abstract: The great and calamitous fiscal trends of our time—dependence on government by an increasing portion of the American population, and soaring debt that threatens the financial integrity of the economy—worsened yet again in 2010 and 2011. The United States has long reached the…
Abstract: The number of Americans who pay taxes continues to shrink—and the United States is close to the point at which half of the population will not pay taxes for government benefits…
Abstract: The annual federal budget deficit is projected to reach 8.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020—more than three times the historical average of 2.3 percent. This dramatic increase in the federal deficit will be exclusively the result of increasing spending, not…
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairs for the President’s bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, released a co-chairs’ report today. Since it is a preliminary report from the chairs, it should be viewed as a model for discussion and seeding ideas for the final commission report. As such,…
The federal government’s finances were dismal even before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was enacted. That is why lawmakers who pushed for its passage felt compelled to try to calm worried Americans by claiming that the law would cut projected federal budget deficits in addition to covering…
Abstract: Since 1996, Congress after Congress has voted to lighten the tax burden on Americans. The current Congress will decide this fall whether to continue this policy or to significantly raise personal income taxes. President Obama has advanced a plan that reverses the long-standing…
Abstract : Federal spending is on an unsustainable path that risks disaster for America. Runaway spending has increased annual…
After a year of unproductive brinksmanship, Congress and the President enter 2012 facing the same intractable budget problems as before: a fourth consecutive deficit expected to be $1 trillion or higher, spending that consumes nearly one-fourth of the economy’s total output, and an entitlement-driven fiscal disaster that has drawn…
Abstract: The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction—the “Super Committee”—created under the Budget Control Act of 2011 has failed to recommend a strategy for reducing the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next decade, leaving automatic cuts of 2 percent on…
Despite all the talk of “austerity,” little has been done to stem the tide of the United States’ ever growing debt. The...…
Europe is in bad shape, there's no doubt about it. The sovereign debt crisis continues to roil the continent, Greece...…
“Provide for common defense” is a core constitutional obligation of the federal government. Yet entitlement spending is...…
House Speaker John Boehner (R–OH) announced yesterday that the House is gearing up to vote prior to the November...…
It's one thing to talk a good game about cutting spending, but it's quite another thing to actually do something about...…
Heritage recently released the 2012 Federal Budget in Pictures. It graphically illustrates the direction our country is...…
It's pretty clear to most Americans that Washington is broken and spending money well beyond the country's means. In...…
President Obama has called Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget “an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country,” but as this...…
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) scandalous spending at a 2010 conference has gotten plenty of attention....…
Welfare cash may have been used to get a Massachusetts drug dealer “out of jail free.” The Boston Herald...…
Distinguished Fellow and Director, Center for Policy Innovation
Director, Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow in the Economics of Fiscal Policy
Senior Research Fellow in Retirement Security and Financial Institutions
Grover M. Hermann Senior Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs
Director, Center for Health Policy Studies and Preston A. Wells, Jr. Fellow