Recent Editorials Address Medicare Trustees’ Report

April 30, 2007 – 4:50 pm | posted in Medicare, Primary Care

Two newspapers on Thursday published editorials related to a study released Monday by the board of trustees for Medicare and Social Security that found the Medicare hospital trust fund will become insolvent by 2019, one year later than estimated in 2006. According to the report, Medicare expenditures in 2006 totaled $408 billion and accounted for about 3.1% of U.S. gross domestic product and by 2030 will account for more than 6.5% of GDP. The report said that the estimated long-term growth rates of both Medicare and Social Security are "not sustainable under current financing arrangements" and that "Medicare’s financial difficulties come sooner — and are much more severe — than those confronting Social Security" (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/24). Summaries appear below.

• Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The trustees’ "warning … triggers a requirement that the president propose — and Congress consider — a means to reduce" reliance on Medicare and Social Security, a Journal-Constitution editorial states. However, "early political bickering suggests that Congress will find it difficult to agree even on a stop-gap solution to that impending problem," according to the editorial. The Journal-Constitution continues, "It’s time lawmakers stopped fighting each other over Medicare and Social Security," adding, "They owe it to voters to address the coming crises. Voters owe it to themselves to hold lawmakers accountable" because "left unaddressed," the programs "could bankrupt future generations of American taxpayers" (McNaughton, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/26).
• New York Times: The trustees’ "projections will now force the [Bush] administration and Congress to propose solutions under rules that are perversely skewed to rule out the most progressive financing," according to a New York Times editorial. Proposals will "have to focus on increases in the regressive payroll tax, increases in premiums charged to beneficiaries, cuts in payments to health care providers and cuts in benefits," the editorial states, adding, "This is a distorted and unfair way to reform Medicare, and Congress needs to eliminate the cap" on the percentage of Medicare funding that can come from general revenues or "find a way around it." The editorial concludes, "One good place to look for savings is surely in the lavish subsidies provided to the private health plans that participate in Medicare. That would help lower the overall program’s costs and slow the approach of insolvency" (New York Times, 4/26).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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