I’ll be speaking tomorrow on Medicare and the myth of a crisis in Medicare financing.  More information and a viewable copy of the Powerpoint is available here at my teaching portfolio blog.

In a nutshell: The “crisis” in Medicare costs and funding doesn’t exist.  It’s contrived and ignores reality.  Yes, there are issues in Medicare funding.  There almost always have been.  But it’s not a crisis.  And further, the whole problem of a “ballooning deficit” that demands we cut Medicare or throw grandma from the train also doesn’t exist.  The deficit is declining.  That’s what happens with even weak growth.

In fact, we don’t have a Medicare cost crisis, we have an overall healthcare system cost problem in the U.S. – especially when compared to the performance of any other developed or developing nation.  Medicare could actually be part of the solution to our healthcare crisis.