Foster R S
HCFA, Baltimore, MD 21244, USA.
Public Health Rep. 1998 Mar-Apr;113(2):110-7.
Medicare is the largest health care program in the country, providing medical care to 38 million aged and disabled Americans. Concerns over rapid cost increases and the imminent insolvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund led to enactment of sweeping Medicare legislation as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Preliminary estimates indicate that this legislation will result in program savings of $150 billion in the first five years and will postpone the depletion of the Hospital Insurance fund from the year 2001 until about 2010. While the Balanced Budget Act significantly reduces Hospital Insurance expenditure in the long range, serious deficits are still expected when the "baby boom" generation reaches retirement. The Medicare Supplementary Medical Insurance trust fund is automatically in financial balance, but policy makers remain concerned about continuing rapid cost increases. A new National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare will attempt to determine effective solutions to these long-range problems.
医疗保险是美国最大的医疗保健项目，为3800万老年和残疾美国人提供医疗服务。由于担心成本迅速增加以及医疗保险医院保险信托基金即将破产，作为1997年《平衡预算法案》的一部分，全面的医疗保险立法得以颁布。初步估计表明，这项立法将在头五年节省1500亿美元的项目开支，并将医疗保险基金耗尽的时间从2001年推迟到2010年左右。虽然《平衡预算法案》从长远来看大幅减少了医院保险支出，但当“婴儿潮”一代退休时，预计仍会出现严重赤字。医疗保险补充医疗保险信托基金自动实现财务平衡，但政策制定者仍对成本持续快速增长感到担忧。一个新的两党医疗保险未来全国委员会将试图确定解决这些长期问题的有效方案。
