The government reported that exploding health costs and the new Medicare law have contributed to the deterioration of Medicare’s financial condition. Experts have projected that Medicare will run out of money before the end of the next decade.

By contrast, the financial stability for Social Security looks more manageable than those of Medicare.

Highlights of the Medicare crisis:

• Under the current law, Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund, which covers costs for inpatient care, will be exhausted in 2019, which is seven years earlier than projected last year.

• Medicare will grow at a much quicker rate than the economy as a whole, increasing from 2.6 percent of the gross domestic product last year to 3.7 percent in 2010, 7.7 percent in 2035 and nearly 14 percent at the end of the 75-year period often used for long-term projections.

• Medicare costs are projected to exceed those for Social Security in 2024. By 2078, Medicare expenditure levels would represent nearly twice the cost of Social Security.

Senator John Kerry blamed George Bush’s policies for bringing Medicare closer to bankruptcy. On the other hand, Bush officials said Medicare would be in far worse financial standings if the drug legislation passed, which they say would have cost twice as much as the new law.

Trustees revealed that the drug benefit costs would start at $85 billion a year in 2006 and then would grow about 9.6 percent a year, to $161.8 billion in 2013. Separate reports showed that the Social Security trust fund would be depleted in 2042, with tax income covering 73 percent of benefit costs.

New York Times March 24, 2004

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

There is no surprise here, largely in part due to the OUTRAGEOUS Medicare bill that Bush signed in December. The Medicare board of trustees in its annual report to Congress said the program’s hospital insurance trust fund could run out of money before the end of the next decade. Of course, the costs of the new Medicare bill will be much higher than projected. Social security is another Ponzi scheme of the highest magnitude, but it is actually looking BETTER than the projections for Medicare right now. Folks, spending nearly 20 percent of our budget and trillions of dollars for a health care system that doesn’t work and transfers the majority of the profits to drug companies that could care less about your health is certainly a prescription, but not for health--for economic disaster. But I really believe this is a necessary evil. Like an alcoholic, the country must feel the pain and recognize that it needs a change or it is on a fatal path that it will not recover from. Related Articles: Medicare Reform: What to Expect From the Expansion More Medicare Spending Does Not Mean Better Care Medicare Expansion: A Prescription for Disaster Why Not Real Health-Care Reform? Members of Congress Face Conflict of Interest When it Comes to Drug Companies Drug Industry Stalks the US Corridors of Power