Notable & Quotable

“One way or another, Social Security will be resolved. The real fiscal problem is Medicare.”
— Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, speaking at a recent Bond Market Association event in New York. Greenspan said the U.S. has already committed itself to more Medicare benefits than it can provide. Last year, he forecast future troubles for Social Security and Medicare when he warned that the resources needed to maintain the programs seemed “increasingly likely to make current fiscal policy unsustainable — something’s got to give. We have to find a better model.”

Source: USA Today; Health Policy and Strategy Associates Inc.

44% of adults in August 2005 reported having a chronic health condition such as heart disease, cancer, asthma, arthritis or diabetes, or a handicap that limits their daily lives.

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

$102,000 The amount Senior Medicare Patrol Projects (retired professionals educating other Medicare beneficiaries about detecting fraud, waste and abuse in the program) recovered for Medicare in the last half of 2005.

Source: HHS Office of Inspector General

31.6% of the under-65 population in the U.S. was uninsured for at least one month from 2002-2003.

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

3.2 million The number of people covered by HSA plans in America’s Health Insurance Plans member companies as of January 2006, three times the number enrolled in March 2005.

Source: AHIP

$161 billion Estimated amount the U.S. would save each year on paperwork if it adopted single-payer health care.

Source: Harper’s

14.9 million The number of non-institutionalized adults in the U.S. who were unable (or found it very difficult) to walk a quarter mile in 2003.

Source: Centers for Disease Control

1.4 million The number of U.S. children between ages 8 and 18 who are caregivers for parents or other family members.

Source: NPR