Medicare accounts for 14% of the total federal budget, more than the 7% accounted for by Medicaid, but a smaller share than Social Security (22%) or defense (20%)
Employers are the principal source of health insurance in the United States, providing health benefits for about 159 million people, or about 52% of all Americans; however, the percentage of employers who offer such benefits has been falling: 69 percent offered health coverage benefits in 2000, compared to 60% in 2009
The average premium for family health coverage through an employer was $13,770 in 2010, of which covered workers paid an average of $3,997
Since 1999, family premiums for employer-sponsored insurance have increased 138 percent, while wages have gone up 42 percent and inflation has gone up 31 percent
For the first time on record, the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index exceeds the increase in national health spending per capita, 3.8% vs. 3.5% in 2008
The 24% of Medicaid enrollees who were elderly or disabled accounted for 70% of the program’s $275 billion in federal and state spending on services in 2005 while only 30% of spending was for the 45 million children and adults who make up 76% of total enrollment
From Presidents Ronald Reagan through George W. Bush, I was a senior legislative research and policy staff of the nonpartisan Library of Congress Congressional Research Service (CRS). I'm partisan here, an "aggressive progressive." I'm a contributor to The Fold and Nation of Change. Welcome to They Will Say ANYTHING! Come back often! . . . . . Michael Matheron, contact me at mjmmoose@gmail.com
