Did Dan Froomkin just lie to his Huffington Post readers on Social Security and Medicare?

Medicare Gets New Lease On Life; Social Security Program Remains Healthy

The new health care law has significantly improved the prognosis for Medicare, extending the life of its trust fundby 12 years until 2029, and thereby delaying any need for dramatic changes in benefits or revenues...

The annual check-up from government actuaries overseeing the nation's two central safety-net programs also found that Social Security continues to be much less of a problem than Medicare, and will remain in strong financial shape at least through 2037.

"The financial outlook for the Medicare program is substantially improved as a result of the far-reaching changes in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," concludes the Medicare report -- although the trustees warned that the improvements depend on the successful implementation of the law.

Social Security, according to its annual report, is expected to pay out slightly more in benefits than it receives in payroll tax this year... But payroll taxes are only one source of income for the program, and with the others -- including interest income on its $2.5 trillion trust fund, held in special issue U.S. Treasury securities...

The trust fund, which exists in paper form
in a filing cabinet in Parkersburg, W.Va.,
 are bonds backed by the government’s “full faith and credit”
but not by any actual assets.

That trust fund, currently at $2.5 trillion,
has been spent over the years to fund other parts of government. 

  To redeem the trust fund bonds,
the government will have to borrow in public debt markets
or raise taxes.

Ricardo Alsonso-zaldivar and Martin Crutsinger
Associated Press

The program will need to start spending from its trust fund in 2025, with that fund becoming exhausted in 2037, which is consistent with last year's estimate.

But at a press conference Thursday, Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue, one of the government trustees releasing the report, begged reporters not to scare the public by exaggerating the significance of trust fund exhaustion.

"That does not mean that there will be no money left," Astrue said. At that point, even if Congress took no action, Social Security could still pay out 78 percent of expected benefits from annual revenues. "That would be a bad result, but it is a far cry from having no benefits at all," he said.

Inaccurate reporting on the topic tends to "make young people despair about Social Security," he said.

...Astrue said that both reports taken together, along with recent analyses by other groups such as the Congressional Budget Office, show that the new health care law will result in "very, very, very substantial improvements in the rate of growth of health care costs... on a scale that make a very substantial impact on that piece of our long-term fiscal challenges."
 
...Robert Greenstein, a leading liberal budget expert who directs the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, called attention to what he called the "huge reduction" in Medicare's long-term budget problems. The new report projects an 80 percent reduction in the 75-year shortfall for the Medicare trust fund, from 3.88 percent of taxable payroll to a much more manageable 0.66 percent.

That means Medicare "is in dramatically better financial shape than it was prior to the enactment of the health reform law," even as the law simultaneously improves coverage and reduces premiums, Greenstein told the Huffington Post.

And these are reliable numbers, he said. "These are not political numbers. These numbers are based on the work of the Social Security and Medicare actuaries. Political officials can put whatever spin they want on the numbers, but the numbers themselves are generally not subject to political influence."

...the trustees assumed current law in making their projections,
including a cut in doctor’s Medicare payments of 23 percent
starting in December.

Congress has for years voted
to put more money in the Medicare program
to keep such sharp cuts in doctor’s payments from occurring.

…An April 22 analysis pointed out
that the projected gain of 12 years of additional solvency for Medicare,
a figure that was also used in the health care debate,
was largely an “appearance...”

...some of the $575 billion in Medicare savings over 10 years
“may be unrealistic,” because future Congresses could be pressured
 to roll back cuts to providers in the health care law.

Ricardo Alsonso-zaldivar and Martin Crutsinger
Associated Press

Nancy Altman, co-chairman of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign, said in a statement: "Every year, the trustees' reports become an excuse for fear mongering by those who should know better. This year, the news is especially good for Medicare, thanks to the enactment of health care reform. The news for Social Security is even better..."Politicians should stop scaring the American people. Social Security is strong and should be strengthened, not cut."

Dan Froomkin
Huffington Post

Is Mr. Froomkin suggesting Congress and the President
are going to cut Medicare payments by 23% in December?

Does Mr. Froomkin believe interest payments
from Trust Fund assets
are making up for shortfalls without more borrowing
or taxes?