Cost of Medicare

Today I got my annual social security notice and Medicare Part Be is now $144 per month. Since 2000 Medicare Part B cost have risen 5.9% per year and during this time inflation has been 2.1%. Medicare started in 1966 at $3 per month and has risen at twice the inflation rate since that time. At its start, in 1966, Medicare cost $3 billion. The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost only about $12 billion by 1990 (a figure that included an allowance for inflation). This was a supposedly "conservative"estimate. But in 1990 Medicare actually cost $107 billion. Keep this in mind when you see estimates of the cost of Medicare for all. Once a benefit is given there is no going back regardless of the cost.