Thomas Ravenel on Social Security

Opt out of Medicare without forfeiting Social Security

Seniors should be able to opt out of Medicare and instead receive "means tested" vouchers to purchase private insurance. If they want a more expensive private plan they can always supplement their vouchers with private funds, just as they do now with Medigap plans.

Medicare vouchers would let the market--not central planners in Washington--determine prices, payment systems, delivery systems, and how to reward quality.

Voluntary personal accounts for younger workers

RAVENEL: I want to fix this problem by giving younger workers the opportunity--on a voluntary basis--to place a portion of the payroll taxes they are currently paying into personal investment accounts which the individual worker would own and control. These accounts would grow into very substantial savings over the 40-plus years the average person works and they would provide a far more generous retirement benefit than Social Security currently promises--and can't deliver. The accounts would be professionally managed by government-approved financial institutions that the individual worker could select. Best of all, since individual workers would own their own accounts, no politician could ever spend that money on anything else. The reforms I will advocate would have no affect on those nearing, or already retired.