Lawmakers Should Establish Commission To Address Financial Stability Of Entitlement Programs, Editorial States

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 11 Mar 2008 - 12:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Lawmakers should adopt the "modest plan" proposed by U.S. Comptroller General David Walker and others to form a bipartisan commission to address issues related to the long-term financial stability of Medicare and other entitlement programs, a San Francisco Chronicle editorial states.

According to the editorial, expected increases in spending for entitlement programs as baby boomers begin to reach retirement age in 2010 "will be profound," and current proposals to address the issue are "political nonstarters that rally voters and go nowhere." The "biggest concern" is Medicare, which will "outstrip its fees and premiums by $34 trillion" over the next 75 years because of increased health care costs and enrollment in the program, the editorial states.

"Each day of delay" in efforts to address the long-term financial stability of entitlement programs "compounds the sacrifice that will be required down the road," the editorial states (San Francisco Chronicle, 3/10).

Reprinted with kind 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.