Washington, D.C.--The annual report released today by the Board of Trustees of the Medicare and Social Security programs projects that Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes beginning in 2013, and the trust fund will be exhausted in 2032. Medicare, however, has been stabilized through 2008 as a result of Congressional action last year, although the Trustees state that the Medicare trust fund continues to lose money.

"I am pleased to see that our efforts through the 'Balanced Budget Act of 1997' have stabilized Medicare for now," Lucas said. "This gives us time to make some beneficial and long-term repairs to the system, instead of just applying another bandage to a program that continues to lose money. Additionally, the Trustees' report on Social Security only confirms what we have known all along: that the system is going to be in major trouble in the not so distant future."

Prior to passage of the "Balanced Budget Act of 1997," the 1997 Medicare Trustees' report estimated that the fund would have solvency problems in the year 2001.

"The Social Security Trust Fund is not in immediate danger, but in order to devise a plan that will keep the program from collapsing on itself in the future, we must start now," Lucas said. "The House will be voting on a bill on the House floor tomorrow that would begin a national dialogue on solvency solutions through a bipartisan committee that would report its findings to Congress no later than February 1, 1999.

"I absolutely believe that we need a bipartisan commission to do this job," Lucas continued. "We cannot allow politics to play a role in the reform process.

"The American people can either push for Social Security reform or keep it from happening," Lucas said. ACongress needs the people's support for real reform.

"We cannot just continue to raise taxes and cut benefits," Lucas continued. "And we will not change standards for current Social Security beneficiaries, but we must do something."

The Board of Trustees for both programs are made up of seven officials, including four members of the President's cabinet. They are Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin; Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala; Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman; and Commissioner of Social Security Kenneth Apfel.