Munnell A H
J Health Polit Policy Law. 1985 Fall;10(3):489-511. doi: 10.1215/03616878-10-3-489.
Although the hospital insurance (HI) trust fund acted as a source of strength for the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance program during its recent financial crises, projections by HCFA and CBO reveal that the Medicare program will experience financing problems of its own within the next decade. No one would argue that Medicare's financing problems should be solved simply by raising more money. However, the prospect of insolvency in the HI trust fund and the increasing strain on general revenues from the Supplementary Medical Insurance trust fund require policymakers to survey the options for increasing Medicare revenues while cost-control devices are being developed. Indeed, even if cost-control efforts are completely successful, additional revenues may be needed in the future to finance new initiatives in the Medicare program. Therefore, this paper will look briefly at current efforts to regain control of soaring hospital and physician costs and then examine some of the more feasible options for increasing Medicare revenues.
尽管在最近的金融危机期间，医院保险（HI）信托基金为老年、遗属和残疾保险计划提供了有力支持，但医疗保健财务管理局（HCFA）和美国国会预算办公室（CBO）的预测显示，医疗保险计划在未来十年内将面临自身的融资问题。没有人会认为医疗保险的融资问题应仅仅通过筹集更多资金来解决。然而，HI信托基金面临资不抵债的前景，以及补充医疗保险信托基金对一般收入造成的压力不断增加，这就要求政策制定者在制定成本控制措施的同时，审视增加医疗保险收入的各种选择。事实上，即使成本控制努力完全成功，未来可能仍需要额外收入来为医疗保险计划的新举措提供资金。因此，本文将简要探讨目前为控制飙升的医院和医生成本所做的努力，然后研究一些增加医疗保险收入的更可行选择。
