When Medicare was enacted in 1965, Congress projected its costs into the future, and estimated that it would cost $3 billion dollars by 1990.
Actual cost in 1990 was $98 billion.
Today the program costs taxpayers more than $500 billion annually.
Government officials consistently underestimate entitlement costs, refusing to recognize that medical entitlements artificially increase demand, causing prices to rise.
Because of Medicare (and Medicaid), American health care costs have risen faster than inflation every single year for more than 40 years. See this Medicare fact page.
And Medicare has apparently done little to improve the overall health of retirees. Today’s American seniors are actually sicker than their predecessors in earlier generations. See here.
Studies of those on Medicaid show such people generally have no better health outcomes than IF THEY HAD NO HEALTH INSURANCE WHATSOEVER. See here.
