When Medicare was created, it amounted to a promise that whatever health care retired individuals need will be covered at public expense. That promise must be honored, even if it means raising taxes or reducing spending in other areas. As things stand, elderly persons are paying more than ever for out-of-pocket medical expenses that are not covered by Medicare. Minor adjustments can be made to reduce the program's cost, and aggressive measures should be taken to reduce fraudulent claims. But it is immoral and unthinkable to reduce medical benefits or deprive elderly persons of the freedom to choose their own physicians.
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Unless we revisit what Medicare promised, and cut back certain benefits, Medicare's trust fund will be depleted within a few years. When this program was created in the 1960s, no one anticipated that so many expensive medical technologies would be developed or that the cost of this program would escalate at 10 percent or more per year. Before the baby boomers retire, we need to pare down benefits, revise the eligibility rules, and make affluent retirees pay more of their own health care costs. To ensure that the needs of future generations are met, commitments to the elderly need to be trimmed to a level we can afford.
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Health care spending for older Americans will continue to rise as long as the current Medicare system is in place. The flaw in the current system is that individuals use Medicare indiscriminately since most costs are paid by the government. We would be better off, as a nation and as individuals, if Medicare for older Americans was replaced by mandatory medical savings accounts. In retirement, people would use these accounts to pay routine medical bills and premiums on high-deductible medical insurance. If individuals pay directly for their health care, it will help to keep costs down.
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