Of all the issues swirling around the 2008 US election, the staggering projected costs for the upkeep of America's largest entitlement programmes - Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid - loom with gathering intensity. Government revenues alone cannot solve the problem but a solution must be found. In this book George P. Shultz and John B. Shoven take a practical - and optimistic - look at the issues at hand, offering an agenda for reform that will make these essential programmes solvent. Drawing on a trove of original research, they take stock of the current situation, consider plans on offer from major thinkers in the field, and chart a course towards a system that provides income for the elderly and universal access to health care in ways that are fiscally sound. This book is for anyone wishing to be informed about America's future and to learn lessons relevant to government from the US social security and health care situation.