Tag Archives: Medicare

A lot has been written and said about the politics of the debt ceiling debate – perhaps too much. Therefore, this is not another piece about the potential impact of reaching the debt ceiling. This is about a major driver of the debate – health care. Although it doesn’t often appear so, there is a fair amount of agreement in the health care debate. Most will acknowledge that Medicare and Medicaid are growing at rates that are unsupportable in the long run. The disagreements, however, are about how and when to address the problem. Politicians, being the kings of the short term, almost always seek to push off the hard choices until the next time, frequently only acting when there is a crisis (see economic meltdown, auto-maker bailout, mortgage bailout, etc.).