News
CNN: Money | Social Security and Medicare to run short sooner than expected
After the programs' trust funds are exhausted, Social Security and Medicare will be taking in only enough money to pay a portion of promised benefits to retirees.
National Journal | Trustees: Medicare to Go Broke in 2024
Medicare costs will continue to grow substantially, from a 3.6 percent share of the economy in 2010 to 5.5 percent by 2035, the trustees project in their annual report. But they say reforms in last year's health care law can help.
Politico | Medicare cost cutting job could be the worst in D.C.
Wanted: nationally known health care experts to serve on controversial health care board that will make painful Medicare spending cuts. Must be willing to quite current job to do it. Also, must be willing to go through bloody and humiliating confirmation fight.
Blogs
Econlog | It is Health Care Consumption
Until somebody listens, I will keep shouting that it is not health care "costs" that are out of control. It is the utilization of medical services. To put it in terms that will provoke some, it is the consumption of medical care.
Heritage Foundation | Making Health Insurance More Accessible
How do the uninsured get away with not having the assets to pay their bills? Well, the average uninsured person only pays for about a quarter of their total health care costs. Taxpayers end up covering about 75 percent of the unpaid tab through direct payment and extra disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments made by Medicaid and Medicare, while those with private insurance, hospitals, and charities pick up the rest.
Heritage Foundation | Medicare’s Deteriorating Financial Condition
The just released 2011 Medicare trustees report does not contain any big surprises. Much of what the trustees say in this report they have said before: Medicare poses enormous challenges for patients and taxpayers alike, and its financial condition continues a downward slide. Some key findings:
