The government reported that the financial condition of Social Security and Medicare deteriorated markedly due to the recession.

Using their assumptions Social Security will run out of money in 2037 and Medicare in 2017.

Robert Reich has a good take on the relative problems.   I agree that Social Security is a much smaller problem (about 1/4 the level of projected underfunding) which can be addressed with tax tuning or pushing out the retirement age.  Medicare is a much bigger problem – which the country will have to deal with ASAP – it’s primarily a function of health care cost growth (which is unsustainable) and the increasing length of lifespans (people are around to consume even more health care).