CBO: Medicare Increasingly Spending More On Older Beneficiaries

The Congressional Budget Office says the decline in inpatient hospital care is leading to slower spending growth for younger Medicare beneficiaries, while faster growth in spending for nursing home and hospice -- which are used more widely by older beneficiaries -- is contributing to more spending per older beneficiary. In a white paper released Monday (Nov. 23), CBO says that between 1999 and 2012 the age with the highest Medicare spending per beneficiary increased from 89 to 97. In the...