Healthcare Spending to Double by 2017

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It is common knowledge amongst medical professionals that the last year of one's life is the most medically costly one. As the baby boomers age, develop Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and heart disease, the federal government will be under a huge burden to shift resources to pay for the care all these baby boomers need.
As a society, we need to decide what we can afford. As individuals, do not rely on the government to meet your needs. Social security is an adjunct at best. Medicare will never be able to pay for all these health care needs. As the cost of providing care escalates and Medicare cuts payments to health care providers, more physicians will be opting out of Medicare. Private insurance and long term care insurance are the best we have now. While costly, the cost of not being prepared is going to be higher.

Troy of MN 8:28PM February 26, 2008

The US sends more (higher percentage of GDP) than any other country on earth, yet by no quantitative measure do we have one of the best health care systems. By every normal measure (longevity, infant mortality, etc.) we rank very low relative to other western countries, so what are we spending all thin money for? Many politicians say we (the American people) don't want a system like Canada, UK or France, now I don't really know if I would or wouldn't want any of those systems but I do know ours isn't even as good as the ones "we don't want".
This situation is a bit like the war in Iraq. All the military specialists tell us we cannot continue to persue this war without seriously effecting our ability to defentd the USA, but we continue doing it anyway. We have been warned for years now that we cannot continue to run our health care system the way that we do without risking bankrupting our country, but we just keep on doing what we are doing. Is it always better to just refuse to make a decision, with the idea that the decision would have to be worse than the way things are. I am a well off guy but even I am shocked at the cost of medical insurance. I can continue to pay my premiums for the forseable future, but I am sure that the many many Amreicans will not be so fortunate.

captbilly of CA 7:43PM February 26, 2008

This is a false dichotomy argument, typical of the rePublican approach to political discourse. According to you, we are faced with a grim choice: 1) plunge the society further into debt, or 2) do nothing. I can imagine a potential third choice. That would be an integrated approach that includes things like repealing legislation that forbids bulk rate prices for drugs from being negociated, repealing tax cuts where they are not needed, public education campaigns to reduce medically disastrous behavior of individuals, making sure that no one has to rely on a hospital emergency room as their primary care source, spreading medical insurance risk beyond the confines of cherry-picked, for-profit groups. This is off the top of my head. No doubt serious experts can expand the approach. One thing is certain; simply doing nothing is neither a useful, nor a compassionate alternative. Shame on you for trying to frame the issue the way you did.

Eugene Hayman of TX 5:13PM February 26, 2008

Hi Michelle,
Perhaps it's time for the tax paying electorate to have a say as to where their trillions of tax dollars go and allow us the option to choose Health Care over Warfare. Is it too radical a thought to consider the possibility of people being able to direct a portion of their tax dollars towards our and our children's future. Let the words, "For The People, by The People" ring true.
TYVM,
-Robert

Robert of CA 5:13PM February 26, 2008

How do people think that $110 Billion will pay for it. Every healthcare program started by the government costs over 3 times the original estimate.
Roll back tax cuts for the wealthy? That's ignorant, the reason the wealthy get bigger tax cuts is because they pay more in taxes. Simple. The top 1% of income earners pay over 25% of the federal income tax. The bottom 40% pay 0, exactly 0. To make matters worse, this "war" on the middle class is horsesqueeze, the middle class is shrinking, but so is the lower class. Amazingly they are moving upward.
55% of all healthcare spending is spent on problems associated with smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise. This sounds like something I want to give more money to.
Medicare, medicaid, and social security are all bankrupt. Do we really want to put our healthcare in the hands of these idiots as well?

Brad of GA 4:58PM February 26, 2008

McCain has said we could be in Iraq for the next 100 years. Even if we are not in a full-out war with Iraq but a "continued presence" as McCain has suggested, where does the money come from to continue our nation building? The answer: deficit spending. This deficit spending weakens the dollar makes health care costs go up even faster (i.e. inflation) Here is the amount of money we spend in military spending:
$481.4 billion - DOD requested for salaries, operations (except in Iraq and Afghanistan), and equipment.
$141.7 billion - "supplemental" budget to fight the "global war on terrorism"
$93.4 billion - DOD war costs in the remainder of 2007
$50 billion - additional "allowance" to be charged to fiscal year 2009
Subtotal: $766.5 billion.
$23.4 billion - DOE developing and maintaining nuclear warheads
$25.3 billion - State Dept foreign military assistance
$1.0 billion - recruitment and reenlistment incentives for U.S. military
$1.9 billion - Department of Justice for the paramilitary activities of the FBI
$38.5 billion - Department of the Treasury for the Military Retirement Fund
$7.6 billion - for the military-related activities of NASA
$200.0 billion - interest for past debt-financed defense outlays
Grand Total: $1.064 trillion
Michelle Andrews, your asking the wrong question. The question is, how are we going to pay for our Imperialism? We could easily afford to provide universal health care if we cut even just a fraction out of our reckless military spending.

Jake of UT 4:47PM February 26, 2008

OLDER AMERICANS COULD BE GIVEN FEWER LIFE PRESERVING MEDICAL PROCEDURES IF THEIR QUALITY OF LIFE IS NOT ENHANCED; LIKELY DEMINISHED BY MERELY PROLONGING LIFE.

Fredric Fortney of CA 4:39PM February 26, 2008