Sec. 511. Policy statement on Medicare
381 words·~2 min read·
/bill/115/hconres/71/rh/section-511·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The House finds the following: More than 57 million Americans depend on Medicare for their health security. The Medicare Trustees Report has repeatedly recommended that Congress address Medicare’s long-term financial challenges. Each year without reform, the financial condition of Medicare becomes more precarious and the threat to those in or near retirement more pronounced. The current challenges that Congress will need to address include— the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2029 and unable to pay the scheduled benefits;
Medicare enrollment is expected to increase more than 50 percent in the next two decades, as 10,000 baby boomers reach retirement age each day; due to extended life spans, enrollees remain in Medicare three times longer than at the outset of the program five decades ago; notwithstanding the program’s trust fund arrangement, current workers’ payroll tax contributions pay for current Medicare beneficiaries instead of being set aside for their own future use; the number of workers supporting each beneficiary continues to fall; in 1965, the ratio was 4.5 workers per beneficiary, and by 2030, the ratio will be only 2.4 workers per beneficiary; the average Medicare beneficiary receives about three dollars in Medicare benefits for every dollar paid into the program;
Medicare is growing faster than the economy, with a projected growth rate of 7.2 percent per year on average through 2026, peaking in 2026 at 9.2 percent; and by 2027, Medicare spending will reach more than $1.4 trillion, more than double the 2016 spending level of $692 billion. Failing to address the impending insolvency of Medicare will leave millions of American seniors without adequate health security and younger generations burdened with having to pay for these unsustainable spending levels.
It is the policy of this concurrent resolution to save Medicare for those in or near retirement and to strengthen the program’s solvency for future beneficiaries. This concurrent resolution assumes transition to an improved Medicare program that ensures— Medicare is preserved for current and future beneficiaries; future Medicare beneficiaries may select from competing guaranteed health coverage options a plan that best suits their needs; traditional fee-for-service Medicare remains a plan option;
Medicare provides additional assistance for lower-income beneficiaries and those with greater health risks; and Medicare spending is put on a sustainable path and becomes solvent over the long term.