Medicare’s Biggest Problem is Basic Math

adding machine

Medicare has problems. A lot of problems. Some are hard to figure out. This one involves 3rd grade math.

Even if politicians weren’t siphoning money out of the barrel and then demanding more under the pretense of helping the elderly, we are still on our way to running out of money.

If you want to be scared about the intelligence of our leaders and our future, instead of watching a horror movie, read this article.

“…Medicare’s real problem is not fraud and abuse but basic math. For example, according to the left-of-center Urban Institute, a married couple with two average earners turning 65 in 2020 will have paid roughly $154,000 in Medicare payroll taxes over their lifetimes. That certainly seems like a lot of money. But, given average life expectancy, that same couple can expect to receive $479,000 in benefits (net of any Medicare premiums they pay). It’s hard to see a program that loses $325,000 per couple as “working.”

Source: Medicare’s Costs and Benefits | Cato Institute

 

Photo courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives, some rights reserved.

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