"Commentary"-Curing Medicare
Monday, February 25, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: Tonight's commentator says fixing Medicare should top Washington's to do list. She's Nada Eissa, associate professor of public policy and economics at Georgetown University.
NADA EISSA, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PUBLIC POLICY & ECONOMICS, GEORGETOWN UNIV.: With people living longer and health care costs rising rapidly, Medicare is getting expensive and now poses the greatest threat to the future fiscal health of this country. To pay for all of Medicare's expected spending in 75 years, we would have to cut out all other government spending or raise taxes sharply.
Today, we pay for Medicare with a combination of premiums, payroll taxes and general tax revenues. In 2003, after adding a prescription drug benefit and more half a trillion dollars to the 10-year cost of the program, Congress and President Bush also agreed to try to hold down future Medicare spending. Their plan: when general tax revenues are about to exceed 45 percent of the program's cost, a general revenue warning is triggered. That requires the president to submit legislation to bring down Medicare's general revenue spending and the Congress to consider the proposed changes.
To no one's surprise, Medicare is about to exceed the limit and the trigger has been pulled. The White House has put forward a proposal that, among other things, requires the wealthy to pay higher Medicare premiums. That is a start. And where is the Congress? The president's proposal was deemed dead on arrival when it got to Capitol Hill. Not only that, Congress now wants to eliminate the trigger. That would be a big mistake. The way we finance Medicare now is equivalent to taking out a credit card for our grandchildren and slapping our own medical bills on it. The trigger alone won't stop that, but it will help keep our feet to the fire. Let's hope our policymakers don't walk away from it. I'm Nada Eissa.
