Medicare’s shaky finances will prompt a sterner warning than usual to Congress from an influential advisory panel.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission opened its 2019-2020 meeting cycle on September 5 with a sobering warning that program spending is projected to nearly double to more than $1.5 trillion by 2028 as a wave of baby boomers fully ages into the program.
The commission, which advises Congress on Medicare payment policy, can only make recommendations about current and future program spending. Commissioner Warner Thomas said the tone of the upcoming 2020 report to Congress should be “amped up considerably” to convey the ...