How to Fix Social Security to Protect the Young and Old

To the Editor:

Re "Young Americans Can't Keep Funding Boomers and Beyond," by C. Eugene Steuerle and Glenn Kramon (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, Sept. 1):

This essay is based on the deeply flawed premise that America's seniors are somehow ripping off the younger generations simply by collecting earned benefits.

Social Security and Medicare have been enormously successful at providing Americans with basic financial and health security. These benefits are not luxuries.

Without Social Security, nearly 40 percent of seniors would fall into poverty. Before Medicare, most seniors had no health insurance. Far from being "unfair" to younger people, these benefits are intergenerational compacts. Workers pay into Social Security now and collect benefits upon retirement, disability or the death of a family breadwinner.

In fact, the average 30-year-old with two children already has some $1.5 million worth of life and disability insurance from Social Security. That 30-year-old also will likely need every dollar of their earned benefits upon retirement.

Younger adults cannot afford for their future Social Security or Medicare benefits to be cut by raising the retirement age, means testing or any other conservative scheme to undermine these enormously popular and time-tested benefits.

Max Richtman
Tom Harkin
Mr. Richtman is president and C.E.O. of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Mr. Harkin is a former senator from Iowa and founder of the Harkin Institute at Drake University.