Medicare is a government administered health insurance program for senior citizens. In the 10 years following the creation of Medicare, mandatory spending increased from 30 percent to over 50 percent of the federal budget. The graph to the right shows the larger share of the Federal Budget that mandatory spending has taken up over time.
Medicare is a government-administered health insurance program for senior citizens. Within ten years after its creation, obligatory expenditures grew from 30 percent to over 50 percent of the federal budget. The illustration on the right highlights how the Federal Budget's share allocated to mandatory spending has increased over time.