we are so glad to have you back, juliette cubanski.ussion. >> thank you. as was said, i am juliette cubanski, director of the kaiser family foundation and michael here today is to provide you with a few simple facts about medicare. i have a lot of ground to cover, so let's get started. as you saw in the video, medicare was created about 50 years ago in 1965 to provide health insurance coverage to people 55 years old and older. it was expanded in 1972 to cover younger adults with permanent disabilities. it covers about 55 million people, about 45 million people age 65 and older and 9 million people under age 65 with disabilities. medicare covers people without regard to their income and without regard to their health status or medical needs. and it provides the same set of benefits to everyone who is entitled to medicare. these benefits include hospital and physician visits, preventative services and prescription drug benefits, which have been in increasingly large role player in recent years. medicare covers a population that on the wh

certainly, juliette cubanski davis a terrific structure of the program. notwithstanding its desire not to talk politics, the reality is that medicare is very much caught up in the discussions of the day. it has been tremendously successful in providing coverage to the elderly in this country and the disabled. certainly the 50 million people in 2012 that were covered by the program. it has achieved a great many terrific outcomes, some that were reflected in the job at kaiser has done. the program has been in variation, as jonathan pointed out, in terms of the differences around the country and the utilization of services, and we have word for many years about the quality of the care that was actually being received, and whether it was at the level that we expected it to be. while this is nonetheless a continuing increase, the trust fund has been financed through payroll taxes, that is for part a. it is appropriate, as was pointed out, and part b is funded by general revenues that mashed essentially the amount that is paid in premiums and the increase in th

as i said i'm juliette cubanski, associate director of the pro-comp on medicare policy at the kaiser a few essential facts about medicare. i have a lot of ground to cover so let's get started. as you so anything you, medicare was created about 50 years ago, was expanded in 1972 to cover younger adults with permanent disability. today medicare covers about 50 million people, about 41 million people age 65 and older, and 9 million under age 65 with disabilities. medicare covers people without regard to their income. with elkhart to their health status or medical needs. and provides a sense of the benefits to to everyone who is entitled to medicare. these benefits include hospital and physician visits, post a cute care, and preventive services and a prescription drug benefit that's delivered through private plans which have been playing an increasingly large role in the medicare program in recent years. medicare covers a population that on the whole tends to be sicker and have greater health needs than others. for internet three or more chronic conditions. nearly one-fourth have cogniti

i'd like to thank the panelists who have appeared, juliette cubanski, dana safran, debra curtis, meghan mccarthy. thank you so much. you've each brought important perspectives to the conversation. i'll turn it back over to connie. [applause] >> thanks. thank you so much, and once again i would like to thank the american medical association and to welcome dr. james madara to offer some closing remarks to us. [applause] >> well, i think this has been fantastic, and i would like to thank the national journal for acting as host, and thank you, connie. the speakers, they were wonderful panels. the audience, great questions. maggie, you served as the bonding agent for the whole thing, so thank you. just a couple of comments. why is health care so, such a special topic? this really brings it home. and i can think of three reasons. first, obviously, it's too expensive for the outcomes we secure. 17, 18% of the gdp. second, it's just -- [inaudible] as i like to say to groups like this, we're all preops, it's just a matter of timing. [laughter] and thirdly, it's very national. our security as a n

joining maggie on stage now we will start assembling everybody, we have doctor juliette cubanski associate director program on medicare policy at kaiser family foundation. debbie curtis, professional staff are come house committee ways and means. jay khosla, the senate finance committee. meghan mccarthy, policy analyst and former "national journal" health care writer. and dr. dana safran, senior vice president of performance measurement and improvement at blue cross blue shield of massachusetts. i think we have everybody. back to you spent thanks very much. this is going to be the really juicy panel i think because we're going to take all these ideas and translate them into how we can actually implement them, what we can actually do, given the political reality in washington, given the current situation. i think everybody here, i can see responding in the audience as you heard people say things. i also want to make one important point. the deep thinkers are not just academics. they have state. dr. nichols is still here listening to the real people talk. i can see dr. wilensky and doctor gi