The vast majority of health care providers are honest. Convictions for Medicare fraud are up more than 80 percent since 1992. We've actually put in jail some people who've tried to defraud the system. We have fundamentally changed the behavior of the entire health care industry. We've strengthened Medicare by investing in prevention services - including flu shots, mammograms and prostate screenings.
Prevention is still the cheapest and most cost-effective form of health care.
Finally, we've strengthened Medicare by implementing reforms in the bipartisan Balanced Budget Act, and by learning important lessons from the private sector. There is one downside to this year's good news about the Hospital Insurance trust fund. It invites complacency - and complacency is a prescription for disaster. Keep in mind, we already face a demographic time bomb. Americans over 85 are the fastest growing segment of our population, and the number of Americans over 65 is expected to double over the next 30 years.