Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Medicaid "tidal wave" on its way
[Ken Moritsugu, "Big changes to Medicare on the horizon," The Wichita Eagle, 27 March 2004.]
As the baby boomer generation ages, policymakers are beginning to realize the gravity of the situation:
The breaking point could come with the retirement of the baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964. They will swell the ranks of the nation's elderly, driving up health spending. Americans will have to decide whether health care should consume an ever-increasing share of the nation's economic resources.
"The growth of Medicare, Medicaid and health care spending ... is the central domestic policy challenge of our time," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, which projects the cost of federal programs.
"Unlike most tidal waves, this tidal wave will never recede," said David Walker, the head of the government's General Accounting Office. "It is a permanent change in the demographic profile of our country."
The reality is that merely tweaking the system at this point isn't going to accomplish anything. Kansas, like all states, must implement fundamental reforms within its Medicaid program.
[Matthew Hisrich, Staying the Course: Medicaid Reform in Kansas, The Flint Hills Center for Public Policy, February 2004.
Benjamin Pratt, "Staggering Cost," Letter to the Editor, The Wichita Eagle, 28 December 2003.
Stephen A. Moses, "Project Proposal: Controlling Medicaid Long-Term Care Costs," Submitted to Members of the Kansas State Legislature.]
[Ken Moritsugu, "Big changes to Medicare on the horizon," The Wichita Eagle, 27 March 2004.]
As the baby boomer generation ages, policymakers are beginning to realize the gravity of the situation:
The breaking point could come with the retirement of the baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964. They will swell the ranks of the nation's elderly, driving up health spending. Americans will have to decide whether health care should consume an ever-increasing share of the nation's economic resources.
"The growth of Medicare, Medicaid and health care spending ... is the central domestic policy challenge of our time," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, which projects the cost of federal programs.
"Unlike most tidal waves, this tidal wave will never recede," said David Walker, the head of the government's General Accounting Office. "It is a permanent change in the demographic profile of our country."
The reality is that merely tweaking the system at this point isn't going to accomplish anything. Kansas, like all states, must implement fundamental reforms within its Medicaid program.
[Matthew Hisrich, Staying the Course: Medicaid Reform in Kansas, The Flint Hills Center for Public Policy, February 2004.
Benjamin Pratt, "Staggering Cost," Letter to the Editor, The Wichita Eagle, 28 December 2003.
Stephen A. Moses, "Project Proposal: Controlling Medicaid Long-Term Care Costs," Submitted to Members of the Kansas State Legislature.]
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