How the Tax Law’s Impact on Medicare and Medicaid Could Affect Seniors
<p>As baby boomers age and people live longer with chronic illness, annual Medicare spending is expected to double over the next 10 years. Medicaid, which provides coverage to more than 4.6 million low-income seniors, will also see greater demand for care. </p><p>In a new episode of <em>New Directions in Health Care: The Commonwealth Fund Podcast,</em> producer Sandy Hausman talks with the Commonwealth Fund’s Shawn Bishop and Eric Schneider, M.D., about the recently passed tax law’s potential effect on these already inadequately funded public insurance programs. The tax cuts are expected to add about $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit.</p>
<p>“Our biggest worry is that having dug this deeper deficit hole, Congress may face the prospect of having to make indiscriminate cuts to benefits for tens of millions of seniors and leaving them exposed to medical expenses,” Schneider says.</p>