[lbo-talk] new EPI paper on social security

[Somebody Somebody]

While it is true that Medicare spending will soar if health care cost growth is not brought under control, the same is not true of Social Security spending, which is projected to level off as a share of GDP after the Baby Boomer retirement. 

Somebody: Here's what I don't understand: why would it be such a bad thing if health care costs continued to rise? The U.S. is a post-industrial nation with an aging population - what precisely is supposed to take priority over the health of it's citizens? So, today the U.S. is spending about 16% of GDP on health care - is something terrible supposed to happen when that reaches 30%? 

I can understand why conservatives and neo-liberals focus on cost-cutting, but it's odd that liberal arguments for health care reform also seem to depend on the same premise.