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Medicare and Medicaid blog
Death Panels, the Coverage, and the Board Congress Quietly Repealed The press mocked "death panels" in 2009 while a real ACA board with power over Medicare spending never seated a member and was repealed in 2018. What the Social Security and Medicare trust funds hold, and depletion day The trust funds hold Treasury IOUs, and when they run out benefits fall automatically to what payroll taxes bring in. Here is the arithmetic. Asking Able-Bodied Adults to Work for Medicaid Is Not Cruelty, It Is Dignity The cruelty charge against Medicaid work requirements fails against the 1996 welfare law and the court record, though the paperwork critique is real. The Medicaid Match That Pays States More for Adults Than for Disabled Kids The Affordable Care Act paid states a richer Medicaid match for able-bodied adults than for the disabled, and the arithmetic shows how that bends priorities. GAO's High-Risk List Has Named Some of the Same Programs Since 1990 GAO has listed federal programs most vulnerable to waste, fraud and mismanagement since 1990, and some never come off. That argues for structural reform. What the Medicare Debate of 1965 Promised and What the Program Became Conservatives offered a targeted alternative to Medicare in the 1960s and warned of open-ended costs, and the program's later history shows why. Medicare Advantage Proves Seniors Will Choose Private Plans When Allowed Medicare Advantage grew because seniors kept picking it. Its history, its bidding system and its flaws point toward premium support. Medicare's Two Trust Funds and the 45 Percent Warning Congress Keeps Ignoring Medicare is two funds with two different bills, and a 2003 alarm bell that was written into law has been ringing for years without an answer.