The Medicare trustees annual report released last week makes that clear. Premiums and government spending are soaring. Medicare will fall into the red decades sooner than Social Security. And Medicare spending will soon outstrip Social Security spending. That looming crisis deserves a high priority in Washington. So, why isn't it getting it?

The White House says Medicare already had a moment. It was in 2003, when the prescription drug benefit was enacted. Better to get that benefit on line in 2006 before doing anything more, officials say. Don't buy it. Medicare's getting little attention because its problems are thorny and ideas for addressing them are in short supply.

Both programs will face higher costs when baby boomers start collecting benefits and there are fewer workers per retiree to pay the tab. But those obligations, while worrisome, are predictable. It's not so difficult to project the number of future retirees and how much each will collect monthly from Social Security. The wild card for Medicare is the unabated rise of health care costs in general. Slowing that costly spiral will be tough, but Medicare's woes are too big and too imminent to ignore.

Out-of-pocket costs are soaring. Medicare's trustees estimate premiums will increase 12-percent next year, after double-digit increases in 2004 and 2005. The actual 2006 hike will be set in the fall, but if the trustees are right, the Medicare premium will hit $88 a month and deductibles for doctor and hospital care will also rise.

Red ink is coming. The Medicare hospital trust fund will dip into the red in 2020, two decades before Social Security is projected to hit that benchmark.

Spending will skyrocket. Starting in 2024, Medicare spending will exceed Social Security spending.

Make no mistake: Social Security needs shoring up, and the sooner it's done, the less painful it will be. But it would be a mistake for Washington to remain so attuned to the distant thunder of Social Security insolvency that it ignores the clear and present danger of a Medicare melt-down.