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Generational aspects of Medicare

Author

Listed:
  • David M. Cutler
  • Louise Sheiner
Abstract
This paper examines the generational aspect of the current Medicare system and some stylized reforms. We find that the rates of return on Medicare for today's workers are higher than those for Social Security and that the Medicare system is shifting a greater share of the burden on future workers than is Social Security. Nonetheless, the rates of return on Medicare, using the Medicare Trustees assumptions, are still not that high--roughly 2 percent for today's youngest workers. But forecasting future Medicare expenditures is quite difficult. Under an alternative higher-cost baseline, which we consider plausible, rates of return for today's youngest workers will exceed 3 percent. Putting Medicare on a sustainable basis by raising the payroll tax or reducing benefits would greatly reduce the rate of return for today's workers. Under the Trustees assumptions, for example, the payroll tax would have to be increased by 2.0 percent of payroll to put the Medicare system in balance in perpetuity. This policy would reduce the rate of return on today's youngest workers to about 1.3 percent.

Suggested Citation

  • David M. Cutler & Louise Sheiner, 2000. "Generational aspects of Medicare," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2000-09, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2000-09
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David M. Cutler, 2000. "Walking the Tightrope on Medicare Reform," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 45-56, Spring.
    2. McClellan, Mark & Skinner, Jonathan, 2006. "The incidence of Medicare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-2), pages 257-276, January.
    3. Douglas W. Elmendorf & Louise Sheiner, 2000. "Should America save for its old age? Population aging, national saving, and fiscal policy," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2000-03, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Rettenmaier, Andrew J. & Saving, Thomas R. (ed.), 2000. "Medicare Reform," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226710136, December.
    5. David M. Cutler & Louise Sheiner, 1998. "Demographics and Medical Care Spending: Standard and Non-Standard Effects," NBER Working Papers 6866, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Cutler, David, 2000. "Walking the Tightrope on Medicare Reform," Scholarly Articles 2640587, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    7. Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1998. "Medicare from the Perspective of Generational Accounting," NBER Working Papers 6596, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Antoine Bommier & Ronald Lee & Tim Miller & Stéphane Zuber, 2010. "Who Wins and Who Loses? Public Transfer Accounts for US Generations Born 1850 to 2090," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 1-26, March.
    2. Paolo Pertile & Veronica Polin & Pietro Rizza & Marzia Romanelli, 2012. "Public finance consolidation and fairness across living generations: the case of Italy," Working Papers 04/2012, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    3. Louise Sheiner, 2009. "Intergenerational aspects of health care," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2009-38, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Paolo Pertile & Veronica Polin & Pietro Rizza & Marzia Romanelli, 2015. "The fiscal disadvantage of young Italians: a new view on consolidation and fairness," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 13(1), pages 27-51, March.
    5. Tadashi Fukui & Yasushi Iwamoto, 2007. "Policy Options for Financing Future Health and Long-Term Care Costs in Japan," NBER Chapters, in: Fiscal Policy and Management in East Asia, pages 415-442, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Steven Pizer & Austin Frakt & Roger Feldman, 2009. "Nothing for something? Estimating cost and value for beneficiaries from recent medicare spending increases on HMO payments and drug benefits," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 59-81, March.
    7. Livio Di Matteo, 2010. "The sustainability of public health expenditures: evidence from the Canadian federation," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 11(6), pages 569-584, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Medicare; Social security;

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health

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