title: Budget crisis, entitlement crisis, health care financing problem--which is it?
abstract: Many budget analysts allege that growing expenditures on entitlements will necessitate a reexamination of all public spending and taxes. In fact, anticipated budget problems are fully explained by projected growth of Medicare and Medicaid. But the same forces driving public-sector health care spending are also driving private spending. Sensible reforms of publicly financed health care require a systemwide approach. Apart from health care, currently legislated federal revenues suffice to cover all currently projected spending, including all Social Security and other entitlements. The United States confronts a public and private health care spending problem, not an entitlement crisis.
authors.affiliation: Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, USA. haaron@brookings.edu
authors.forename: Henry J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Aaron
mesh_terms: D002017:Budgets; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D017149:Private Sector / Q000191:economics; D017150:Public Sector / Q000191:economics; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014481:United States