Public Agenda Issue Guide: Medicare

Citizens

are confronted with serious issues every minute of the day. Grasping the underlying issues from the headlines is a difficult task. Give us ten minutes a day and we will help bring clarity to the chaos of the news, policy and issues.

ON THE AGENDA

Does First Out of the Application Gate Mean Most Likely to Graduate?

Scott Bittle
Aug 12, 2010

There are people who wait until the last minute, and then there are people like high school student Cree Bautista, who holds the honor of being the being the first student in the United States to apply to college this year, a mere three hours and thirty minutes after the "common application" form went online.

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College Completion: Eyes On 2020

Francie Grace
Aug 9, 2010

President Obama heads to Austin, Texas, today for a speech in which he is expected to talk about the goal of the U.S. regaining its position as the nation with the highest percentage of college graduates (we're now #12 for citizens aged 25 to 34). For a preview of the speech, see http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/08/09/obama.education/; you can also watch it live at 3 p.m.

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FACING UP TO THE
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ISSUE GUIDE: Medicare

OVERVIEW

Medicare

Medicare, the national health-insurance plan for the elderly and disabled, is much like Social Security in terms of the people it serves, its popularity and its fragile future -- except that it's in much worse shape financially. The program serves 42 million Americans and costs more than $325 billion per year, nearly 13 percent of the federal budget. But current projections say Medicare will be unable to cover its bills by 2019 -- long before Social Security, which should be able to cover its costs until 2041.

GET THE FACTS

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CONSIDER THE CHOICES

Keep benefits intact

Reduce benefits to a level we can sustain

Put individuals in charge of their own health care

When Medicare was created, it amounted to a promise that whatever health care retired individuals need will be covered at public expense. That promise must be honored, even if it means raising taxes or reducing spending in other areas. As things stand, elderly persons are paying more than ever for out-of-pocket medical expenses that are not covered by Medicare. Minor adjustments can be made to reduce the program's cost, and aggressive measures should be taken to reduce fraudulent claims. But it is immoral and unthinkable to reduce medical benefits or deprive elderly persons of the freedom to choose their own physicians.
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Unless we revisit what Medicare promised, and cut back certain benefits, Medicare's trust fund will be depleted within a few years. When this program was created in the 1960s, no one anticipated that so many expensive medical technologies would be developed or that the cost of this program would escalate at 10 percent or more per year. Before the baby boomers retire, we need to pare down benefits, revise the eligibility rules, and make affluent retirees pay more of their own health care costs. To ensure that the needs of future generations are met, commitments to the elderly need to be trimmed to a level we can afford.
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Health care spending for older Americans will continue to rise as long as the current Medicare system is in place. The flaw in the current system is that individuals use Medicare indiscriminately since most costs are paid by the government. We would be better off, as a nation and as individuals, if Medicare for older Americans was replaced by mandatory medical savings accounts. In retirement, people would use these accounts to pay routine medical bills and premiums on high-deductible medical insurance. If individuals pay directly for their health care, it will help to keep costs down.
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