Jun 6 2013
The Washington Post highlights a new report that finds elderly Americans are "economically vulnerable" to even modest changes in Medicare and other entitlement programs. Meanwhile, Modern Healthcare notes another report analyzing "the great debate" over health spending.
The Washington Post: Report: Entitlement Changes To Put Seniors At Financial Risk
Nearly half of the nation's elderly population is "economically vulnerable" and would be particularly hard hit by even modest changes in the Social Security and Medicare programs being considered to slow the growth of the nation's long-term debt, according to a new report (Fletcher, 6/5).
Modern Healthcare: Great Recession Spawns Great Debate Over Health Spending
Economists and policymakers are puzzling over how big an impact the Great Recession and its aftermath are having on reducing healthcare spending, whether the economic upswing will unleash pent-up demand for care, and whether the current lower spending is actually good for Americans' health. New research shows that household health spending declined even among those with private insurance and medical needs. Out-of-pocket costs for children with special medical needs declined between 2007, when the recession began, and 2009, the year the recession officially ended, a newly published study in Health Affairs says (Evans, 6/5).
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 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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Aging populations are redefining the value of a healthy life year