Medicare Gets New Lease On Life Thanks To ACA And Hospital Cost Containment

Alan: The fact, "plain as potatoes" is that "socialism" works better 

than anything else in America.

Judging by Medicare and Social Security, socialism is also more popular than anything else in America. (Congressional approval is at 7%, behind Darth Vader.)

Do these glaring facts have meaning for the aggressively ignorant Know Nothings 

who lay waste to America?

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"Tweaks" Can Fix Social Security's 5.3 Trillion Social Security Shortfall (AP)
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/tweaks-can-fix-53t-social-security.html


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Medicare gets new lease on life thanks to ACA, hospital expenses. "Medicare’s financial stability has been strengthened by the Affordable Care Act and other forces that have been subduing health-care spending, according to a new official forecast that says the fund covering the program’s hospital costs will remain solvent until 2030 — four years later than expected a year ago....The trustees welcomed the improved financial prospects for Medicare but acknowledged that the underlying reasons are not yet entirely understood....The trustees’ forecast said that the trust fund that pays for hospital care — Medicare Part A — has been strengthened significantly." Amy Goldstein in The Washington Post.

Primary sources: The full texts of the Medicare report and the Social Security report. The Washington Post.

Chart: Is Medicare going broke? No. "This report has predicted, many times in the past, that the Medicare Trust Fund would run out of money. But...each time the projected insolvency date gets close, there's typically a pattern where Congress steps in and passes some type of policy to make trust fund dollars stretch at least a decade longer....The projected date of insolvency speaks to a world where Congress never changes anything about Medicare, the world of health financing stays static, and, if we keep spending payroll tax dollars at current rates, the fund can't pay its bills. In other words, the date of projected insolvency speaks to a world that doesn't really exist." Sarah Kliff in Vox.