Because of rising costs of health care and the aging of the population, the CBO projects that, without reform, Medicare and Medicaid will be about 35 percent of non-interest federal spending in 2025.
12 This trend implies increasingly difficult tradeoffs for legislators and taxpayers, as higher government spending on health-care spending will, of necessity, require reductions in other government programs, higher taxes, or larger budget deficits. Rapid increases in health spending also portend increasingly difficult access to health services for people with lower incomes.