At this point, you've all seen the graph. There's "other spending," and it's steady. And there's Social Security, and it's steady. And then there's Medicaid and Medicare, and they're racing upward. I've posted it a dozen times. Peter Orszag uses it in his presentations. And we all assure you that the private heath sector is facing similarly rapid rates of increase. But until now, there's not been a similarly compelling graph. This week, ye olde media came through:
For all that people talk about unaccountable government bureaucrats, there are actually a lot of econ majors holed up in small offices deep within unknown agencies tasked with producing scary graphs showing how much money the taxpayer is spending. When the federal fiscal path is unsustainable, we know about it. That's less true in the private sector, where no particular body is charged with putting GDP on the Y axis and doom on the X axis. But what the country can't afford in taxes it also can't afford in premiums. You often hear it said that we can't fix Medicare and Medicaid without fixing the health system, and that's true. But even if we could, health costs would still bankrupt the country. They'd do it by collapsing businesses and households rather than the budget, but they'd do it.
For all that people talk about unaccountable government bureaucrats, there are actually a lot of econ majors holed up in small offices deep within unknown agencies tasked with producing scary graphs showing how much money the taxpayer is spending. When the federal fiscal path is unsustainable, we know about it. That's less true in the private sector, where no particular body is charged with putting GDP on the Y axis and doom on the X axis. But what the country can't afford in taxes it also can't afford in premiums. You often hear it said that we can't fix Medicare and Medicaid without fixing the health system, and that's true. But even if we could, health costs would still bankrupt the country. They'd do it by collapsing businesses and households rather than the budget, but they'd do it. 
