That other entitlement program

Social Security is my bete noire because I think it's repugnant on a fundamental level: the program's job is to take money from working families and give it to well-off seniors. It had its place in the wake of the Great Depression when poverty was widespread and the elderly couldn't work at labor-intensive jobs. Nowadays, the senior set holds the most wealth in the country and could easily continue on in a computerized workplace.

But I digress. The other crusher entitlement program is Medicare and while it meets a laudable goal of helping seniors pay for medical costs, like Social Security it can't continue on its current path. From Real Clear Politics, here's Joseph Antos with "Saving Medicare from fiscal breakdown":

With 43 million beneficiaries, Medicare is America's largest health insurance program. Covering hospital stays, doctor visits, and prescription drugs, most seniors -- and many disabled Americans -- depend on it.

But it's also America's most endangered health insurance program. This year it will cost around $430 billion, or about 20 cents of every health dollar spent. Spending is growing more rapidly than revenue, and if current trends continue, the program will be unable to pay for all the hospital bills that come in by 2018.

Quite simply, Medicare is headed for a fiscal breakdown.

Unfortunately, nobody's going to touch this issue with a ten-foot tongue depressor.