[Star Traveler]

Well ... that bill that was passed may not be paid for, but I’m sure paying through the nose every month for it all ... LOL ...

[kabar]

By law, 75% of Medicare Parts B and D, come from the general fund. The premiums pay for just 25% of the costs. And 40% of all Medicare expenditures come from the General Fund. If Medicare is not reformed, it will eventually consume the entire federal budget. Medicare has been running in the red since 2008.

This graph shows that the average man and woman (average defined in the study as average income over their working lives and living to the average life expectancy) who start receiving benefits in 2010 get over 3 times more in benefits than they pay in to the system! Of importance, the study accounts for inflation by calculating all past taxes and future payments in 2010 dollars to provide an accurate comparison.

If the notion that Medicare recipients are simply "getting back what they paid in" is false then where is the money coming from? Simply, the excess received is being borrowed from younger generations and the cost is more than we can bear.