Reply #3: as if they are the same sort of budget item as bombers and foreign aid

[nashville_brook]

these programs are operated like trust funds (ss and medicaid). this article makes it sound like the programs are in crisis, in a time of war, when $$ needs to be spent wisely. these monies aren't general funds.

according to US Health and Human Services:

Under the trust fund perspective, Social Security is projected to have reserves that would allow full payment of benefits until 2041, and the average deficit for the next 75 years would equal 14 percent of the program’s income. The Hospital Insurance (HI) portion of Medicare would have sufficient reserves to cover all promised benefits until 2020. Its average 75-year deficit would equal 91 percent of its income. Based on this outlook, the combined shortfall for both programs would appear to be fixable by immediately raising the payroll tax rate from 15.3 percent to 20.31 percent (half coming from employees and half coming from employers) or by an equivalent reduction in expenditures. From the trust fund perspective, the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) part of Medicare (which pays for physician services and soon, prescription drugs) presents no problem since the Treasury’s general fund finances roughly three fourths of its cost (premiums from enrollee covering the remaining portion) and any shortfalls that should arise for any upcoming year.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/ss-mcare-trust05/