Second, the U.S. is approaching a significant demographic shift in the relative proportion of the population that is in the workforce compared to those who are retired. Third, waste, fraud, and abuse have not been totally eliminated, although fraudulent and erroneous Medicare payments have been halved since 1996 and now account for only a small percentage of Medicare expenditures. The Medicare benefits package is also a significant issue. The current package does not reflect important changes in treatment that have occurred over the past 30 years. Chief among these changes are the burgeoning role of prescription drugs and the long-term care needs of an increasingly older population with physical or mental impairments.
Prescription drugs can vastly improve the length and quality of life for seniors.
More than three quarters of the elderly and disabled on Medicare use such medications regularly. However, many drugs are prohibitively expensive. Medicare does not cover drugs except in limited institutional settings. The current Medicare benefits package provides only limited long-term care coverage. Yet, one in four Medicare beneficiaries has long-term care needs and this proportion may grow as more people live longer.