Okay folks, everyone knows how important $10 billion over the next five years is to the government, right? The Post assumes that you do, because it provides no context to this projection of savings on Medicare payments from including a means-test for individuals with incomes over $80,000 and couples with incomes over $160,000.
For those interested in assigning meaning to numbers, $10 billion over the next five years is equal to approximately 0.06 percent of projected spending, or $7 per person per year. It is approximately equal to 0.4 percent of projected spending on Medicare over this period. This last point is especially important. Means-testing will have little impact on Medicare spending unless the test is applied to people far lower down on the income distribution than is currently being proposed.
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