The Medicare program faces a 75-year unfunded liability in excess of $30 trillion even as it is plagued by serious gaps in coverage, an increasing number of demoralized doctors refusing to accept new Medicare patients, a sluggish and outdated system of inflexible governance, and tens of billions of dollars in annual losses to waste, fraud and abuse. Instead of resorting to the traditional “solutions” of raising taxes, cutting benefits, or cutting payments to health care providers, Congress should begin a two-stage structural reform of Medicare to transform the program into a robust system of consumer choice and competition.
The United States is at a fiscal tipping point—mostly due to the explosive growth in federal entitlement spending, especially on Medicare Read More.
The contrast between competing visions for Medicare’s future has been underscored by the 2012 Medicare trustees report. Conservatives and liberals agree that Medicare is on an unsustainable course; the debate is about changing course and securing a better future. Read More.
The introduction of the bipartisan Wyden–Ryan premium support plan for Medicare ensures that reform of the government’s largest health entitlement program will continue to be a major topic of debate in 2012. Read More.
The recent proposal by Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) and Senator Ron Wyden (D–OR) showcases the growing, and bipartisan, agreement that premium support is the path forward for saving Medicare. Read More.
Rapidly rising Medicare spending is a major cause of the federal government’s budget problems. Proposals to reform Medicare and slow its spending fall into one of two categories: more government micromanagement or empowerment of health care consumers in a functioning marketplace. Read More.
Slide 1 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Entitlement spending is the main cause of long-term runaway federal deficits. Medicare is the fastest- growing program due to retiring baby boomers and rising health care costs. …
Slide 10 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Projected Medicare savings from Obamacare don't improve the program. Instead, they pay for other new programs created under the law that aren't even for seniors. By slashing reimbursement rates instead of introducing real reform, the health law jeopardizes seniors'…
Slide 9 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Many believe that seniors pay for their own Medicare benefits, but in fact, current workers finance current enrollee benefits. In addition, most Medicare beneficiaries end up receiving more than what they paid in to the system. …
Slide 3 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Workers' contributions to Medicare aren't set aside for their own retirement— they pay for current beneficiaries. A main cause of Medicare's growing insolvency is that the ratio of workers to beneficiaries is falling. …
Slide 8 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Approximately 88 percent of seniors' Medicare benefits are funded by taxpayers. Medicare Part A is mandatory coverage funded by the payroll tax. But Medicare Parts B and D, which cover outpatient services and prescription drugs, respectively, are voluntary and…
Slide 2 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform The Medicare shortfall is the difference between the money the program brings in and the money it spends on health care benefits. Even assuming that unrealistic cost-containment policies in current law are sustained, by 2040, Medicare's shortfall will account…
Slide 12 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Obamacare makes deep cuts to provider payments to offset the cost of new programs that aren't for seniors. If these deep cuts go into effect, many providers will operate in the red, making it very difficult for seniors to…
Slide 6 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform Medicare is consuming more of household income than ever before, a trend that will continue. Absent reform, the situation will soon require either economy-crushing new taxes or painful benefit cuts in the program. …
Slide 5 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform The Medicare trustees are required to base their projections on current law as it is written. These projections rely on unrealistic assumptions, such as Congress allowing staggering provider payment cuts that will harm seniors' access to care. The alternative…
Slide 4 | Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform The average life expectancy in the United States has increased since Medicare was created, but the program's eligibility age has remained constant at age 65. As a result, seniors collect benefits for almost three times as long compared to…
Abstract: The great and calamitous fiscal trends of our time—dependence on government by an increasing portion of the American population, and soaring debt that threatens the financial integrity of the economy—worsened yet again in 2010 and 2011. The United States has long reached the…
Saving the American Dream is The Heritage Foundation’s plan to fix the debt, cut spending and, above all, restore prosperity. It balances the nation’s budget within a decade—and keeps it balanced. It reduces the debt and cuts government…
Abstract: Next week, the Supreme Court will hear challenges to Obamacare (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) centered on the constitutionality of the legislation’s individual mandate and Medicaid expansion. From a legal perspective, the Court’s decision will…
According to surveys, no group of Americans is more skeptical of Obamacare than senior citizens[1]—and with good reason. While bits and pieces of the massive law are designed to appeal to seniors—more taxpayer subsidies for the Medicare drug benefit, for example—much of the financing…
No class of American professionals will be more negatively impacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act than physicians. Third-party payment arrangements already compromise the independence and integrity of the medical profession; Obamacare will reinforce the worst of these features.…
Abstract: On its second anniversary, Obamacare remains unpopular. The provisions currently in effect have fallen short of expectations and disrupted the market, causing even greater uncertainty for the future. Overall, Obamacare has increased government control of Americans’ health care choices and limited consumer choice.…
Abstract: The number of Americans who pay taxes continues to shrink—and the United States is close to the point at which half of the population will not pay taxes for government benefits…
ROBERT E. MOFFIT: Twenty minutes ago the President of the United States signed the Medicare bill into law. The debate about what the bill says is over. It's now what the law says, and that conversation will continue. Today we're privileged to have with us the director of the…
Abstract: One element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the advancement of “comparative effectiveness research” (CER). Intended to compare available treatment options, CER can benefit patients if used for informational purposes only, but it could also be harmful in practice.…
Americans want health care reform—but not the reforms put in place under the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (PPACA). The new law moves America’s health care system in the wrong direction, transferring vast powers to Washington bureaucrats who will control the dollars and decisions that should be in…
The release of the annual Medicare trustees report in late April, containing as it did a vast array of very bad news, was immediately greeted with valid dire warnings of fiscal disaster.[1] Little noticed, however, were three important bits of good news: the inevitability of imminent action; a…
The contrast between competing visions for Medicare’s future has been underscored by the 2012 Medicare trustees report. Conservatives and liberals agree that Medicare is on an unsustainable course; the debate is about changing course and securing a better future. Faced with rapidly rising Medicare costs, President Obama wants to slash…
Executive Summary The United States is at a fiscal tipping point—mostly due to the explosive growth in federal entitlement spending, especially on Medicare. The long-term unfunded liability of the Medicare program—promised benefits that are not financed—is almost…
Abstract: The President’s budget perpetuates a misleading portrayal of the true magnitude of federal spending. This is most clearly evident in the figures for Medicare spending, which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reports as $480 billion for 2011—$80 billion less than the…
Once again, Congress stopped a scheduled 27 percent payment cut to physicians who serve Medicare patients. This frequent exercise serves as a perfect example for the need to move Medicare away from its current price-control model toward a market-based, premium support model. Ten months from now, when faced with this…
Abstract: The introduction of the bipartisan Wyden–Ryan premium support plan for Medicare ensures that reform of the government’s largest health entitlement program will continue to be a major topic of debate in 2012. With premium support, the federal government moves away from running a…
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama sat down with world leaders at the G8 summit and bragged about his track...…
Despite all the talk of “austerity,” little has been done to stem the tide of the United States’ ever growing debt. The...…
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“Provide for common defense” is a core constitutional obligation of the federal government. Yet entitlement spending is...…
Yet another provision of Obamacare is expected to cost taxpayers more than they expected. The House Energy and...…
The House Ways and Means Committee just released a report that shows that the most successful companies would save...…
The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a hearing last Friday to discuss the bipartisan effort behind...…
A new study by the Urban Institute reconfirms a vital fact: Medicare’s massive increase in enrollment, largely...…
Distinguished Fellow and Director, Center for Policy Innovation
Assistant Director, Center for Data Analysis and Research Fellow
Senior Fellow
Director, Center for Health Policy Studies and Preston A. Wells, Jr. Fellow