[Mariner]

“The entitlement programs, Medicaid, food stamps, and debt servicing costs comprise two-thirds of the federal budget and are on automatic pilot.”

Well, sorta.

Congress can disable that feature any time they damn well please.

[cgbg]

Congress can disable that feature any time they damn well please.

Yup--and junkies can kick the habit any time they want... ;-)

Never trust a junkie (Ministry)...

[kabar]

LOL. The is absolutely no political will to eliminate SS, Medicare, or Medicaid. There are 63 million SS recipients, 44 million Medicare recipients, and 74 million Medicaid recipients, 40% of whom are children. Any politician trying to eliminate those programs would be committing political suicide.

The automatic pilot feature of COLAs will not be shut off by Congress. The only way it will end would be if the trust funds are exhausted (SS in 2034 and Medicare in 2026) and benefits could only equal revenue collected.

Many are not aware that 40% of Medicare costs are paid from the General Fund. By law, the premiums for Medicare Part B and D cover only 25% of the costs. The rest comes from the General Fund. Also, 9 out of every 10 Medicare recipients have supplemental, private insurance to cover the costs that Medicare does not, i.e., Medigap insurance. I wonder why no one has asked Bernie and Warren about this.