Oversight Hearing on the Administration's Failure to Propose Medicare Reforms
WASHINGTON – Medicare’s inability to sustain itself has reached historic levels. In 2000, payroll tax revenue funded 60% of total Medicare expenditures. In 2010, the total had dropped to 35%. Medicare was not designed to have general tax revenue be used to fund its solvency. Since 40 cents of each dollar the Treasury spent last year was borrowed, last year Medicare added $110 billion to the debt alone.
In their annual report, the Medicare Board of Trustees issue a “Medicare funding warning” when general tax revenue and government borrowing is projected to fund at least 45% of total Medicare expenditures. If the “Medicare funding warning” is issued for two straight years, the “Medicare Trigger” is pulled and the President is required to act to address the problem. The President has not complied with this requirement. According to the 2011 Medicare Trustees Report, this is the sixth consecutive year in which the warning has been issued.
On Tuesday, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-SC, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Health Care, District of Columbia, Census and the National Archives, will hold a hearing to examine President Obama’s refusal to comply with a provision of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 that requires him to submit a legislative proposal in response to the “Medicare Trigger.”
Please check here for hearing video and for witnesses testimony as it becomes available.
HEARING DETAILS
Title: Fulfilling a Legal Duty: Triggering a Medicare Plan from the Administration
Date/Time: Tuesday, July 12th at 1:00 p.m.
Location: 2154 Rayburn House Office Building and online at https://oversight.house.gov.
Witnesses
• Mr. Jonathan Blum, Deputy Administrator and Director of Center for Medicare in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• Dr. Charles Blahous III, Public Trustee of Social Security and Medicare
• Dr. Joseph Antos, Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy
• Mr. James Capretta, Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
• Dr. Paul N. Van de Water, Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
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