Who will take care of Medicare?

The New York Times recently published this article on the growing economic burden of our Medicaid and Medicare health insurance programs. Both Medicaid, which caters to the poor, and Medicare, aimed at the elderly, cost over $627 billion and consisted of 23% of federal spending last year. It is expected for those numbers to double in ten years and at that time will consist of more than 30% of the federal budget.
The bulk of these increases generally come from increased health spending which spurs as a result of ever developing technology and new medicines. It seems as though if we want to be able to further enjoy the benefits of medical advancement, we have take a bigger bite out of the budget.
So it looks like we can't have our cake and eat it too.
Sure the Democratic Presidential candidates speak of increasing health insurance to those not covered by Medicaid and Medicare, but no one has offered a plan on how to handle the growing cost of maintaining these two programs.
That seems to be the conundrum that we as a people are in. Everytime we attempt to solve one issue, another problem almost always emerges. These candidates only cater to one side of the issue, while their opposition caters to the other. It forces the public to pick the option that will screw us over the least. I personally would like to see someone come up with a plan of action to take care of these programs. Having a sibling and a grandparent who benefit from both Medicaid and Medicare, I certainly don't want them left in the hands of a program destined to go broke in 10 years.
Reduce government spending and debt or increase government funding for more social programs? That is the question as you can see with this issue and it looks like you've got to pick one side of the fence to be on because you sure as heck aren't going sit on this one.


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