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Home » Issues » Health » Medicare

Medicare

  • Medicare is the nation’s primary health insurance program for senior citizens over the age of 65, certain people with disabilities, and people of any age with permanent kidney failure. The government-run program provides health coverage to nearly 47 million people, and is a source of coverage for one in seven Americans.

    While Medicare provides coverage to all who qualify due to age or disability, many of its beneficiaries are low-income Americans. The Census Bureau’s 2012 Statistical Abstract concluded that among the 47 million enrollees, 41% lived below the federal poverty level.

    The recently enacted Affordable Care Act provides new benefits to Medicare beneficiaries and strengthens the Medicare trust fund. Nevertheless, as a potential solution to addressing our nation’s long-term deficit, some elected officials have proposed cutting Medicare, Medicaid and/or the Affordable Care Act and shifting more of the cost burden of health care onto consumers or states. However, the increase in spending on federal health care programs is due to the aging of the population and the sharply rising cost of health care in the economy as a whole. Shifting more of the burden to consumers or states does nothing to address the underlying problem of escalating costs.

    For more information on this issue, visit CHN’s Public Policy Priorities, 2015-2016.

    Advocacy Organizations

    Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
    Families USA
    Medicare Rights Center
    National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

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Latest News

  • February 13, 2018
    FUSA: Trump Budget Priorities Are a Déjà Vu Attack on Critical Health Programs, Running Directly Counter to What Families in America Need and Want
  • December 4, 2017
    CBPP: Reinsurance Proposal Can’t Fix Damage From Individual Mandate Repeal
  • September 21, 2017
    Graham-Cassidy State Impact Fact Sheets

Policy Analyses and Research

  • March 8, 2018
    CAP: Medicare Extra for All
  • July 17, 2017
    CBPP: Social Security and Medicare Finances Remain Stable, According to 2017 Trustees’ Reports
  • June 23, 2017
    Health Affairs: The American Health Care Act Could Chip Away At The Medicare Savings Programs
  • March 7, 2017
    CBPP: House GOP Medicaid Provisions Would Cut Federal Medicaid Spending by $560 Billion Over Next Decade
  • February 21, 2017
    CBPP: Program Spending as a Percent of GDP Historically Low Outside Social Security and Medicare, and Projected to Fall Further
  • January 6, 2017
    The Economic and Employment Consequences of Repealing Federal Health Reform: A 50 State Analysis
  • May 23, 2016
    Families USA: Health on the Hill: Good and Bad Proposals in Congress This Sprint
  • January 27, 2016
    National Comittee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare: New Online Resource Details Social Security's Economic Impact in States and Counties Nationwide

Resources

  • Kaiser Family Foundation: Summary of Key Changes to Medicare in 2010 Health Reform Law

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Human Needs Report

Human Needs Report

Latest Edition: March 27, 2018

Read articles from the March 27th edition, including pieces on the highs and the lows in the FY18 omnibus spending package, the future of the Farm Bill, and a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Read More »

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CHN in the News

  • CHN Derides White House’s Proposed ‘Harvest Box’ Program
  • CHN's Deborah Weinstein on Trump's "extreme and harsh" budget proposal

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