That’s the present value of all US government spending promises minus expected revenues – projected indefinitely into the future – and calculated in 2019 dollars. The largest components of the total are Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. In each case, beneficiaries are “entitled” to benefits that greatly exceed the revenues that will pay for them, given current tax rates.
What We Owe: $239 Trillion
John C. Goodman is President of the Goodman Institute and Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute. His books include the soon-to-be-published updated edition of Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, the widely acclaimed A Better Choice: Healthcare Solutions for America, and New Way to Care: Social Protections that Put Families First. The Wall Street Journal and National Journal, among other media, have called him the “Father of Health Savings Accounts.”
0 Comments