Econ Papers Daily / 研究评论
美国老年人健康与寿命的变化
Changes in the health and longevity of the elderly in the US
摘要
Spending on public pensions through Social Security and on elderly healthcare through Medicare accounted for over one-third of federal expenditures in the US by 2024. This column explores how improvements in elderly health and life expectancy affected the relative finances of Social Security and Medicare. The elderly are not only living longer but also are in better health, so expected lifetime Medicare spending per elderly individual has grown much slower than expected lifetime Social Security spending. The authors analyse the forces that affect the optimal allocation of a given public budget across these two social insurance programmes.
中文摘要
到2024年，美国通过社会保障（Social Security）在公共养老金上的支出以及通过联邦医疗保险（Medicare）在老年人医疗保健上的支出，合计占联邦支出的三分之一以上。本专栏探讨老年人健康状况和预期寿命的改善如何影响社会保障和联邦医疗保险的相对财务状况。老年人不仅寿命更长，而且健康状况更好，因此每位老年人的预期终身联邦医疗保险支出增长远慢于预期终身社会保障支出。作者分析了影响在给定公共预算下这两个社会保险项目之间最优分配的因素。