Health Care for Elderly Persons — Myths and Realities

Medicare is the largest publicly financed health program in the United States, with total expenditures of $154 billion in 1993 (19.3 percent of total spending on health care) for 36 million elderly and disabled persons.1 According to recent actuarial predictions, the Medicare trust fund that covers hospital care, skilled care in nursing facilities, and home health care (Medicare Part A) will be bankrupt by the year 2001.2 Similarly, supplemental medical insurance (Medicare Part B), which covers physicians' services and outpatient care, is projected to make increasing demands on the federal budget. The growing number of Americans over the age of . . .