Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

I Our Coming Tsunami 3

II Facing Up to the Elephants in the Room: Medicare and Medicaid 25

III Cutting Through the Social Security Fog 37

IV There Is No Time Left to Punt Again 47

V "The Man Behind the Tree Is You and Me" 75

Appendices 79

Appendix 1 The National Debt 81

Appendix 2 The Federal Budget 85

Appendix 3 The Potential Consequences of Our Current Fiscal Path 87

Appendix 4 Perceptions, Misperceptions, and Myths About the Problem 89

Appendix 5 Why the "Problem" Is a Problem 91

Appendix 6 The Significance of Addressing the Problem Sooner Rather than Later 117

Appendix 7 What Options Are There to Address the Problem? 119

Supplementary Material

Brief Descriptions of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and "All-Other" Spending 125

About the Author 135

Index 137