The Chicago Tribune last Friday had an Op-Ed by Robert Moffit on the coming insolvency in the Medicare trust fund. The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed the Medicare trustees’ report that the fund, which covers hospitalization costs and related services, will run out of money in 2026. Unlike Covid-19, this crisis has been obvious for years. Paul Ryan was talking about it, and proposing plans to deal with it, more than a decade ago. But Democrats ignored him and most Republicans did, too. Especially once Donald Trump got nominated and elected.
But with date for insolvency of 2026, the headline on Mr. Moffit’s Op-Ed reads, “Washington can no longer ignore the coming Medicare crisis.” Unfortunately, I think this underestimates our politicians in Washington. The only choices in this situation are hard ones, and Washington has been ignoring this problem for years (as I said above), even though the solutions a decade ago would have been far easier. I am sure the people in Washington can continue to ignore it.
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