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17 Jun 2015
Commentary

Improving Medicare Financing: Are We Up to the Challenge?

Marilyn Moon

Generations, the Journal of the American Society on Aging: Summer 2015

Medicare enrollment formWhile it is one of the most successful programs of the federal government, achieving nearly universal coverage of healthcare for the most difficult populations to serve, Medicare is nearly always a target of federal budget-cutting efforts. Medicare has been a target because of its size and rate of growth since its inception fifty years ago.

What often is missing from this discussion, says Medicare expert Marilyn Moon, is any serious consideration of increasing funding for the program. Ultimately, Medicare will need more financing unless the program is to face substantial and likely harmful cuts in benefits. In this article, Moon states that we need a thoughtful debate about how to pay for healthcare for older adults and people with disabilities into the future. Who should be responsible for those costs?

Moon, director of AIR's Center on Aging and an AIR Institute Fellow, argues that determining the appropriate balance between revenues and spending needs to be part of the discussion for sustaining Medicare into the future.  Her analysis addresses past and future changes to the program and revenue options.

 


Copyright © 2015 American Society on Aging; all rights reserved. Used with permission. This article may not be duplicated, reprinted or distributed in any form without written permission from the publisher: American Society on Aging, 575 Market St., Suite 2100, San Francisco, CA 94105-2869; e-mail: info@asaging.org. For information about ASA’s publications visit www.asaging.org/publications. For information about ASA membership visit www.asaging.org/join.

Improving Medicare Financing: Are We Up to the Challenge?

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Testimony: Medicare and Long Term Care

Medicare expert Marilyn Moon testifies on how the United States can improve its system of long term services and supports, focusing on broad solutions along with Medicare improvements.

Further Reading

  • AIR Institute Fellow Marilyn Moon to Discuss 50th Anniversary of Medicare at Annual American Society on Aging Conference
  • Marilyn Moon Testifies Before Commission on Long-Term Care About Ways to Improve the Nation’s Health Care System
  • Marilyn Moon Demystifies Medicare Reform (Video)
  • Four New Papers From AIR’s Center on Aging Challenge Claims About Medicare’s Sustainability
  • Long Story Short: Is 65 Still a Good Policy Benchmark for Aging?
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