Saving the Trust Funds: New Solutions for Social Security and Medicare

On October 22, 2025, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget hosted Savings the Trust Funds: New Solutions for Social Security and Medicare, an in-person event encompassing a wide-ranging discussion on how to save the Social Security and Medicare trust funds from insolvency, while at the same time improving them.

The Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds are only seven years from insolvency, at which point the law calls for deep across-the-board cuts in benefits. This event launched CRFB's Trust Fund Solutions Initiative, a new effort to develop novel solutions to put Social Security, Medicare, and the Highway Trust Fund on a sustainable path. Learn more about this initiative here.

This event featured a panel presenting several innovative proposals to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and another panel examining the broader policy and political challenges of achieving long-term trust fund solvency. Delivering keynote remarks were Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Erskine Bowles, co-chair of the 2010 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

The full event can be watched here and below.

Opening Remarks: Maya MacGuineas, President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Panel 1: Novel Solutions for Social Security and Medicare

  • Marc Goldwein, Senior VP and Senior Policy Director, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
  • Chris Pope, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
  • Ben Ritz, Vice President of Policy Development, Progressive Policy Institute
  • Mark Sarney, Director of Social Security Policy, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
  • Discussant: Rachel Snyderman, Managing Director of Economic Policy, Bipartisan Policy Center

Panel 2: What’s Next for the Trust Funds?

  • Amy Bassano, Managing Director, Medicare, Health Management Associates
  • Romina Boccia, Director of Budget and Entitlement Policy, Cato Institute
  • Anna Bonelli, Director of Health Policy, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
  • Jack Smalligan, Senior Policy Fellow, Urban Institute
  • Moderator: Mike Murphy, Senior VP and Chief of Staff, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Keynote Speaker: Erskine Bowles, co-chair of the 2010 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

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