Anytime the topic of government heath care comes up, be assured that you will always have the group that will suggest that what we need is more of it. If any government official even suggests cutting down the budget to this black hole of a program and that person will be charged as being “insensitive” to the disadvantaged.
The following article makes the case as to why this program needs to be revamped fiscally.
If Medicare Were a Country (Arnold King)
Most health care reform proposals assume that it is the private health care system that needs fixing. However, over the past 25 years, government spending on health care has been increasing at a faster rate than private spending on health care.
Medicare accounts for more than 15 percent of health care spending in the United States. Fiscal projections for the middle of this century show that the looming cost of Medicare is by far the biggest problem for the federal budget.
And yet, in too many discussions of health care reform, Medicare is ignored.
The implicit assumption is that policy changes are required in other parts of the health care system, but Medicare ought to be left alone. That may be comfortable politically, but simple arithmetic will show that it is not realistic if we wish to rein in health care spending. We are not going to achieve meaningful progress in curbing health care spending without touching Medicare. (more…)
