Medicare Needs Major Reform—Sooner Rather Than Later

Overall Medicare spending will jump from $1.2 trillion this year to more than $2.3 trillion in 2034 .

Hospital insurance trust fund, part of the program that pays for hospital services, will become insolvent in 2033 .

Congress has no choice but to act, writes Robert Moffit .

Moffit: Over the next 75 years , Medicare ’s “unfunded obligations,” additional taxpayer funds required beyond the program's dedicated revenues and premiums.

Robert Moffit , Ph.D. , is a senior research fellow in the Center for Health and Welfare Policy at The Heritage Foundation .

Moffit: Congress and the White House can start by reforming the Medicare Advantage program.

He says Congress can “kick the can’t down the proverbial road, but they have been doing that for far too long. Annual deficits, debt, and Medicare 's programmatic problems continue to mount.