Cost Of Government Benefits To Seniors Grows, Driven By Health Cost Increases, USA Today Analysis Finds
According to USA Today, the cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid grew faster than the rates of enrollment in the programs and inflation. Seniors' benefits in 2007 cost $952.3 billion and accounted for 34.9% of the federal budget, the analysis found (USA Today, 2/14). By contrast, the three programs in 2000 cost the federal government $601 billion (Cauchon, USA Today, 2/14). States contributed an additional $27 billion in 2007, mostly for Medicaid payments to nursing homes (USA Today, 2/14).
The analysis also found:
Medicare experienced the greatest growth between 2000 and 2007, and the Medicare prescription drug benefit accounts for about one-quarter of the increase;
Long-term care costs for seniors have declined over the past three years as a result of a shift from nursing homes to less-costly home care; and
The cost of senior benefits is equal to $10,673 for every nonsenior household (Cauchon, USA Today, 2/14).
According to USA Today, "The senior population boom -- combined with rising Social Security payments and medical costs -- is projected to cause the cost of senior benefits to accelerate at an unprecedented rate," with the government predicting Medicare costs to double in the next decade (USA Today, 2/14).
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