The Facts about the Government's Medicare Cost Projections

Uploaded by ReasonTV

When it comes to the federal government, massive cost overruns are the rule, not the exception. In 1967 long-run forecasts estimated that Medicare would cost about $12 billion by 1990. In reality, it cost more than $98 billion that year. Today it costs $500 billion. In her latest appearance on Bloomberg TV, Reason columnist and Mercatus Center economist Veronique de Rugy explains the facts about the government's medicare cost projections by separating economic myths from economic truths.

Myth: The government's cost projections are reliable.
Fact: They aren't. No matter what government body does the scoring, it is almost always unreliable.