This is really depressing budget news relating to healthcare spending.

A little depressing medical economics for today.

A story in Tuesday's USA-Today hints at the looming financial catastrophe largely driven by federal Medicare & state Medicaid programs. As usual, politicians and bureaucracy are jockeying over the "lipstick on this pig" (ie. how it's hidden on the accounting sheet) rather then the problems and painful solutions itself by arguing for less transparent and accurate accounting practices to keep the books looking prettier. In fairness (I guess) the true numbers would affect interest rates for the worse for the US debt burden.

Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined. Unfunded promises made for Medicare, Social Security and federal retirement programs account for 85% of taxpayer liabilities.

The Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Board, which sets federal accounting standards, is considering requiring the government to adopt accounting rules similar to those for corporations. The change would move Social Security and Medicare onto the government's income statement and balance sheet, instead of keeping them separate. The White House and the Congressional Budget Office oppose the change, arguing that the programs are not true liabilities because government can cancel or cut them. Chad Stone, chief economist at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, says it can be misleading to focus on the government's unfunded liabilities because Medicare's financial problems overwhelm the analysis. "There is a shortfall in Medicare and Medicaid that is potentially explosive, but that is related to overall trends in health care spending," he says.

Rob