One Solution to Tackle Budget-Busting Medicare

Marguerite Bowling / July 30, 2009

In the greater context of the health care debate, Medicare — the government’s health insurance provider program for the elderly — often is mentioned in passing as a program to make cuts and save billions, so that Congress can spend more than $1 trillion to overhaul the health care system.

But, what’s often overlooked is the program’s colossal unfunded promises, which are on track to choke the nation’s budget in less than a decade. “There are four things that no one in Washington is arguing about Medicare,” said J.D. Foster, a senior fellow with Heritage:

• Medicare is unsustainable, with a projected 85.6 trillion in unfunded obligations as of 2007.
• Higher taxes will not be the solution to make Medicare financially sustainable.
• You cannot resolve Medicare’s unfunded obligations by “tinkering around the edges” of the program. While saving money by ridding the system of fraud and waste is a laudable goal, doing so does not solve the larger problem. (more…)