This special issue of Generations should be of great interest to readers who want to understand the role that Medicare plays in the lives of seniors and younger adults with disabilities, the challenges that remain, and the opportunities to build upon Medicare to improve the experience of aging moving forward.
At its 50-year mark, Medicare now covers 55 million people, provides insurance to one in six Americans, and accounts for 14 percent of the federal budget and 20 percent of national healthcare expenditures. This snapshot of Medicare-by-the-numbers reveals the program as firmly placed at the nexus of political will, social responsibility, and future sustainability. In our modern political climate, can we muster the will to retain this life-saving program at its current strength? Will impending demographics prove too unwieldy—or be manageable with substantial change?