Especially when it’s funded through the FICA tax and the U.S. workforce is huge since the millennial generation is the largest generation (even in comparison to baby boomers).
In: Economics
It’s a combination of demographic changes, longer lifespans, and an explosion of healthcare costs.
When medicare was created there were about 5.5 prime-age workers for each retiree drawing benefits.
Today, there are just under 3 prime-age workers, with that number expected to drop below 2 by 2050.
The reduction in workers is made worse because people are living longer in retirement and spending significantly more money on healthcare expenses.
A side effect of our extremely advanced medical research and therapy development is that we now have a broader range of far more effective medical interventions for the elderly.
A cancer diagnosis that would have been a unequivocal death sentence (and therefore cost the taxpayer next to nothing) in the 70’s/80’s can now be treated, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, to extend lifespan a few more years and draw even more medicare benefits.
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