Former HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt: Medicare is headed for ‘disaster.’ Here’s how he thinks it can be prevented

Fierce Healthcare January 15, 2019
Paige Minemyer

Former HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt says value-based care is the key to avoiding a Medicare “disaster.”

The Medicare program is on the path toward “disaster,” according to a former Bush administration HHS secretary. Taking on the problem will require a strong bipartisan focus on eliminating fee-for-service payments.

Former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, who served as Department of Health and Human Services secretary in the George W. Bush Administration, wrote in a whitepaper that Medicare’s looming insolvency will pit generations against one another if it’s not addressed.

Changing demographics in the U.S. mean the traditional model—where young, healthy people pay for care for seniors—isn’t sustainable, wrote Leavitt, who now heads healthcare consulting firm Leavitt Partners.

In 1966, there...

Today's Sponsors

Today's Sponsor