Requested by Elizabeth A Herbst
Now fast forward a few decades….
At its creation in 1965, Medicare was projected to cost $9 billion by 1990. It clocked in at a cool $67 billion instead. – National Review
When Medicare was enacted in 1965, official government projections foresaw hospital spending — the program’s largest component — reaching only $9 billion in 1990. Actual Medicare spending on hospital care in that year was $66 billion, or over seven times as high. One result is that Medicare’s payroll tax is now nearly double what its sponsors said would be necessary (having been raised most recently in 1994), and Congress increasingly relies on other revenue sources to meet Medicare’s obligations. – Cato
In 1965, Medicare was predicted to cost $26 billion in 2003; the actual cost that year was $245 billion. Medicare’s unfunded liability currently hovers around $40 trillion. – The Heartland Institute
In 1965, Medicare had a projected annual cost of $10 billion. The annual cost today? $244 billion. – Heritage Foundation
Take Medicare, for instance. In 1967, long-run forecasts estimated that Medicare would cost about $12 billion by 1990. In reality, it cost $110 billion that year. Today, it costs $500 billion. ** Moreover, based on Congressional Budget Office data, this chart below illustrates how long-term projections of Medicare spending have steadily increased, even in recent years and over short periods of time. In 2005 for example, CBO projected that Medicare would cost $1.5 trillion in 2050. Two years later, in 2007, the same CBO projected that this cost would reach $2.8 trillion. And in 2009, it projected that the cost would be $3 trillion instead. In other words, this projected cost doubled in four years. – American Enterprise Institute
However the numbers are crunched, the fundamental truth is that government entitlement programs always cost a lot more than is claimed at the start. Our legislators fudge and lie about the numbers to get agreement and support. This government is worse than a hard core shopaholic. The national credit cards are maxed out but they just can’t (won’t) stop!!!