In its 50th year, the Medicare program currently provides health insurance coverage for more than 49 million Americans and accounts for $600 billion in federal spending. With those numbers expected to rise as the baby boomer generation ages, many policy experts consider this impending expansion a major threat to the nation’s economic future and question how it might affect the quality and value of health care for Medicare beneficiaries.
On June 5, the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics will host a half-day forum on the future of Medicare. Instead of reflecting on historical accomplishments, the event will look to 2030—a time when the youngest Baby Boomers will be Medicare-eligible—and explore the changing demographics, health care needs, medical technology costs, and financial resources available to beneficiaries. The panels will focus on modernizing Medicare's infrastructure, benefit design, marketplace competition, and payment mechanisms. The event will also include the release of three policy papers from featured panelists.
Join the conversation on Twitter by following @BrookingsMed, @SchaefferCenter or #Medicare2030.
