Solvency or Affordability? Ways to Measure Medicare's Financial Health


 

Publication Date: March 2002

Publisher: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

This report examines different ways of measuring Medicare s financial health and considers their implications for the future of the program and the people it serves. Using an alternative measure of Medicare's long-term affordability that focuses on workers' capacity to absorb additional costs over time, the analysis concludes that the nation could afford to pay more for Medicare in the future without imposing an undue burden on working Americans.