�The situation is much worse than people realize, especially because of the problems brought on by the recession, near depression,� said Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, in an interview with the Tuscaloosa News editorial board.
Bachus, the ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, said most people seem unaware of the impending crisis. He initially said Social Security could face "default" within two years, but his staff responded later saying the Congresssman intended to say "deficit."
�What this recession has done to Social Security is pretty alarming,� he said. �We�ve known for 15 years that we were going to have to make adjustments to Social Security, but we still thought that was seven or eight years down the road. But if things don�t improve very quickly, we�re going to be dealing with that problem before we know it.�
The solvency of Social Security, which provides pensions for people older than 65, has not played a major role in the current debate about health care in Congress. Bachus said it will not likely be addressed in any health-care bill the House eventually passes, although if a Social Security bailout is needed, it will invariably have an impact on government health-care programs.
In the debate over health-care reform, Bachus said that he could support a bill that includes privately administered, nonprofit health-care co-operatives, and the elimination of fraud and waste in existing government programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
The creation of health-care co-ops run by members is an idea that has gained momentum as Democrats and President Barack Obama seem to have moved away from insisting on a �public option,� a government-run alternative to private health insurance offered by for-profit companies.
�I cannot vote for a bill that has the government intruding into the private sector, subsidizing health care and eventually putting the insurance companies out of business,� Bachus said.
As for the looming Social Security crisis, Bachus said solutions are beginning to be discussed.
�We could raise the retirement age, or in the worst case, cut back on some benefits,� he said. �But that is something we are just now beginning to get a handle on.�
Bachus visited The News the day after a standing-room-only crowd of 2,000 people attended a health care public forum he hosted in Birmingham on Monday night.
Unlike some town hall meetings that have turned chaotic across the country as members of Congress have returned to their districts during the August congressional recess, Bachus said there was �only a little friction� between opponents and supporters of various health-care proposals advanced by the Democratic majority in Congress.
�I think everyone was for the most part civil and we had a lot of people just agree to disagree,� he said. �But you can tell that health care is an issue that has energized the country, because I have never had a town meeting with 2,000 people. And we even had to turn away a lot of people because of fire department regulations.�
Reach Tommy Stevenson at tommy.stevenson@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0194.
This has been thrown around for several decades now and everytime Americans have been assured that it has been "fixed." The major problem is that the Social Security Trust Fund can only invest in government securities which creates an overly attempting, off-budget slush fund for Congress to spend in exchange for government bonds. This has been a favorite source of extra funding almost since its inception. Many times when the media reports the budget deficit numbers it is after all available funding has been sucked out of the Social Security Trust Fund.
Now tell me again why I want the government taking over the healthcare industry? If you need more proof look at Amtrak and the US Postal Service.
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