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Medicare to Go Broke by 2019
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | Gerald Farinas |
| Last Edited | Gerald Farinas Mar 23, 2004 03:06pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | News Service - Associated Press |
| News Date | Tuesday, March 23, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Medicare to Go Broke by 2019
The Honolulu Advertiser
Medicare will have to begin dipping into its trust fund this year to keep up with expenditures and will go broke by 2019 without changes in a program that is swelling because of rising health costs, trustees reported Tuesday. The deteriorating financial picture for the health care program for older and disabled Americans is a result, in part, of the new Medicare prescription drug law that will swell costs by more than $500 billion over 10 years. Provisions of the law that President Bush signed into law in December "raise serious doubt about the sustainability of Medicare under current financing arrangements," the trustees said. The 2019 go-broke date for the Medicare trust fund, which is devoted primarily to paying beneficiaries' hospital bills, is seven years sooner than what the trustees projected last year.
Democratic candidate John Kerry blamed "George Bush's irresponsible tax breaks for the wealthy and his giveaway to the prescription drug companies" and said the system would be broke by the time people 50 or younger reach retirement. "After inheriting a strong economy and record surpluses, this president had the chance to stay the course of fiscal responsibility and shore up both the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds. Instead, he made a mockery of fiscal responsibility," Kerry said. "We need a real plan to preserve and protect Medicare and bring fiscal responsibility back to the White House. It is time for change and I will deliver it." |
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