Robert Reich, the 22^nd Secretary of Labor, cautions us to not panic when we hear that "Social Security will run out of assets in 2037, four years sooner than previously forecast, and Medicare's hospital fund will be exhausted by 2017, two years earlier than predicted a year ago." As a trustee of the Social Security and the Medicare trust funds, 15 yeears ago, when both were "supposedly in trouble", they weren't.  As he observed,  the "timing and magnitude of the trouble depended a great dal on what assumptions the actuary used in his models"— the economy was predicted to grow at 2.6%/yr  for 75 years, but it actually was  growing at a rate of 3%/yr.,  and that would make Social Security "flush for the next seventy-five years."

He says the following are not problematic, either:
•       The surfeit of retirees eligible for benefits
•       The surge in immigration.
•       Social Security
 
Moreover, Social Security might be made safe and sound if we:
a)    "Raise the ceiling slightly on yearly wages subject to Social Security payroll taxes (now a bit over $100,000)"
b)    Increase Social Security payroll taxes on those earning over $250,000
c)    Make use of means testing, and/or
d)    Move the retirement age up "a bit"
 
Here's Reich's prescription for slowing the rate of growth of medical costs
Pick Personal Insurer/Health Plan: Under the emerging universal health insurance bill, give a public option in picking insurance coverage
Parley: The government should negotiate lower prices from  medical services suppliers and the pharmaceutical manufacturing  industry
Apply Pressure to Private Insurers so that they "trim costs yet provide effective medical outcomes.

^{Reich R. "The Truth Behind the Social Security and Medicare Alarm Bells." (TruthOut.org) May 13, 2009 and  Robert Reich's Blog}