Medicaid and Medicare are on a path that should concern all Americans, but with the right leadership, we can turn their trajectory around.
On its current course, Medicare, the government-run health insurance program for seniors, will fall off a financial cliff in as little as a decade—maybe even sooner. Meanwhile, Medicaid, the program that pays for health care for the poor, now covers more people than Medicare, placing an enormous strain on both state and federal budgets.
As a nation, we face a chronic disease epidemic, and along with it, a crisis of unsustainable rising costs, high demand, and worsening patient outcomes. Over the past five years, Medicaid spending has surged by some 50%—another unsustainable trend that diverts funds from schools, roads, bridges, and high-speed internet.
Together, Medicare and Medicaid will each spend roughly a trillion dollars…
