Medicare Reform: The Larger Picture

Victor Fuchs

No 7504, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The Medicare problem' is examined as part of the larger problem of providing for the overall financial needs of the elderly. Several myths about Medicare are discussed, and sources and uses of the elderly's full income' are estimated. The paper explores policy options to deal with technology-induced increases in health care expenditures and excessive dependence of the elderly on transfers from the young. The paper concludes that if Americans wish to continue to enjoy the benefits of medical advances, they will have to work more before and after age 65 and will have to increase substantially their rate of saving.

JEL-codes: I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
Note: AG EH
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published as Fuchs, Victor R. "Medicare Reform: The Larger Picture," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2000, v14(2,Spring), 57-70.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w7504.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Medicare Reform: The Larger Picture (2000)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7504

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w7504

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().