Save Medicare and Social Security by giving Americans more choices and tools to live longer, healthier lives with greater financial independence.
Americans work their entire lives to pay for their hard-earned retirement benefits, and as Americans now enjoy longer and healthier lives than ever, these benefits must be protected and made even stronger.
I reject the idea that we can solve our budget and debt crisis by some combination of cutting benefits and raising taxes within the current framework of these two programs. Instead, we need to think outside the box with fundamental, structural reforms that would transform and modernize these two programs, changing how they work to achieve their goals. Any American who wants to enter or remain in the existing Medicare and Social Security programs will be able to do so, but we will also introduce optional alternatives that give Americans more control over their health and retirement.
I look forward to having a discussion with Americans about new legislation that will increase the control that Americans have over their retirement options, while also
dramatically reducing costs. Instead of tax and spend redistribution, I propose that new legislation reforms our entitlement programs so that they can benefit from modern capital, labor, and insurance markets to achieve their goals, with positive, pro-growth incentives to reinforce and further economic growth, rather than counterproductively subtract from it.
If we do this right we can achieve the goal of ensuring a secure and healthy retirement for all, far better and more effectively, at just a fraction of the cost of the current, outdated, counterproductive entitlement programs.
Any American who wants to enjoy the existing Medicare and Social Security systems will be able to do so. At the same time, this legislation will provide Americans with new options. It will offer voluntary market-oriented alternatives that allow Americans to take more control of their own retirement planning.
As more Americans move voluntarily onto the new market-oriented systems, costs will naturally decline.
Medicare
First, stop paying the crooks. An estimated $70 to $120 billion a year is paid to crooks by Medicare and Medicaid. This is the best place to save money at no cost to honest people.
My proposed legislation will offer seniors new choices in Medicare, as well. It will give them the option to choose, on a voluntary basis, either to remain on the existing program, or to transition to a more personalized system in the private sector with greater options for better care. If they select the personalized system, beneficiaries would receive support to cover their private sector premiums. Giving all seniors the option to choose their insurance provider will improve price competition and help lower costs for the program.
Social Security
As president, I will act to strengthen Social Security. My administration will never hold Social Security payments hostage as a bargaining chip against political opponents, as President Obama did in the summer of 2011.
As more Americans live longer and healthier lives, strengthening Social Security also means creating new options for younger Americans. We must therefore consider a voluntary option for younger Americans to put a portion of their Social Security contributions into personal Social Security savings accounts. Other countries, such as Chile, have found that this model creates vast savings while giving beneficiaries more control over when and how they plan to retire.
There are many exciting solutions that will both strengthen Social Security and Medicare while tapping the private sector to save costs, and I look forward to discussing these with Americans over the next year.
