Entitlement Reform Means Fixing the Broader Health System

Medicare, the entitlement program that provides health coverage for seniors, presents some of the country’s most serious budget challenges. Medicare enrollment will grow substantially as baby boomers start to become eligible for retirement in 2011. This demographic shift will also strain Medicaid, Medicare’s sister program for low-income families. But the far bigger challenge facing both programs is rising health care costs.
Medicare, the entitlement program that provides health coverage for seniors, presents some of the country’s most serious budget challenges. Medicare enrollment will grow substantially as baby boomers start to become eligible for retirement in 2011. This demographic shift will also strain Medicaid, Medicare’s sister program for low-income families. But the far bigger challenge facing both programs is rising health care costs.

Medicare, the entitlement program that provides health coverage for seniors, presents some of the country’s most serious budget challenges. Medicare enrollment will grow substantially as baby boomers start to become eligible for retirement in 2011. This demographic shift will also strain Medicaid, Medicare’s sister program for low-income families. But the far bigger challenge facing both programs is rising health care costs.
Medicare, the entitlement program that provides health coverage for seniors, presents some of the country’s most serious budget challenges. Medicare enrollment will grow substantially as baby boomers start to become eligible for retirement in 2011. This demographic shift will also strain Medicaid, Medicare’s sister program for low-income families. But the far bigger challenge facing both programs is rising health care costs.

Medicare, the entitlement program that provides health coverage for seniors, presents some of the country’s most serious budget challenges. Medicare enrollment will grow substantially as baby boomers start to become eligible for retirement in 2011. This demographic shift will also strain Medicaid, Medicare’s sister program for low-income families. But the far bigger challenge facing both programs is rising health care costs.