Anniversary should serve as call to action

By SEN. MIKE CRAPO

U.S. Senate

July 30th was the 50th anniversary of the creation of Medicare, which has been of considerable importance to many Americans.

Medicare’s anniversary should serve as a call to action for achieving the reforms needed to prevent Medicare from becoming insolvent.

To protect current and future Medicare enrollees, comprehensive reforms of the Medicare program must be enacted. The Medicare Trustees report the program faces an unfunded liability of nearly $25 trillion, and the program is currently on track to be insolvent in 2030, if action is not taken to reform the program.

Additionally, the federal government is expected to dramatically increase Medicare spending over the next decade, increasing the program’s already enormous contribution to the national deficit.

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