Is Medicare going to kill us?

Karl Denninger thinks so.  Read Cut The Crap - NOW.

There is no "entitlement crisis" in Social Security. It is all in the medical side and it is going to bankrupt the nation and government both at the state and FEDERAL level unless it is stopped right here and now. The truth of the nation from a fiscal perspective is simply this: If the medical monopolist crap is not broken now fiscal collapse at local, state and federal levels is a certainty. There is absolutely no possible way out of this box through higher taxes, cost-shifting, economic "growth", more borrowing or even all of them at once. "Hide the sausage" games just flat-out don't work.

He might be on to something, so I'll bite.  Question:  How much did the government spend on Medicare (not including Medicaid) in November?  This is an easy answer to find: $77 billion, found on page 3 of the Monthly Treasury Statement.  This is the second highest government outlay, behind Social Security, which however is mostly funded with taxes.   The corresponding number for Medicaid isn't easy to find, besides which Medicaid is partially paid by the states.  So I will just focus on Medicare.

Since this number is so easy to find, I think I will update it monthly.

Update: Here is a related article- Revolt Or Collapse: Pick One
The people of this nation have the ability to put a stop to what is otherwise going to be a certain collapse -- not just in asset markets but of the government itself. This is not going to happen in 2024 when Medicare cannot pay it will happen before that date because in the history of the world markets have never allowed an actual end date to be reached before they throw up all over the impending disaster. To expect otherwise is to claim that literally everyone in the world is stupid beyond words. 

May I point out that when Medicare's funds are exhausted that $1.1 trillion dollar expenditure (and rising) from last year will be immediately reduced by 75%? That's right -- they took in just $260 billion last fiscal year in Medicare taxes but spent four times that amount. If you think the government can immediately add $800 billion to the deficit without interest rates spiking to 10% or more overnight -- which instantly crashes the markets and government both -- you have rocks in your head. 

 Exactly when the markets will blow up is not determinable in advance but that it will happen is an absolute certainty. Once it happens there will be no orderly path available to the government or anyone else to stop or mitigate the damage since the entire problem with the market throwing up on such an event is that confidence in the ability and desire of government to address the issue will have been irretrievably lost.