Medicare and Medicaid turn 50 years old on Thursday. Interestingly, if the programs were people they'd be too young for Medicare and too wealthy for Medicaid.

Many health professionals are celebrating the anniversary, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. "The 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid provides an important opportunity for us to reflect on the critical role these programs have played in protecting the health and well-being of millions of families," Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in a press release. "Today, Medicare and Medicaid are creating a health care system that is better, smarter, and healthier – setting standards for how care is delivered."

But not everyone is celebrating the anniversary. "Medicare has a sick underbelly," David Hogberg, a health care policy analyst at the National Center for Public Policy Research, said in a press release. "Exposing the problem and reporting the true facts about this program should be the media's main focus." Hogberg wrote a book sharing stories of patients harmed by Medicare, including one doctor who had to close his practice because of the program, despite the practice's success with diabetes patients.

Whether you're celebrating or lamenting 50 years of Medicare and Medicaid, here are eight graphs that tell you what the programs are about, and where they're headed.

Federal Budget

Together, Medicare and Medicaid take up more than one-quarter of every federal dollar spent. That's more than double the portion they took up 23 years ago. Medicare is more than twice the size of Medicaid.

Medicare Trust Fund Reserves

The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund is running out of money. In 15 years, the fund will reach depletion and pay out only 86 percent of benefits. Someone who is 50 years old today won't receive all of their benefits upon retirement, if projections come true. The HI Trust Fund pays for hospital, nursing, hospice and home health care, as well as Medicare's administration costs.

Medicare Premiums

Monthly premiums for Medicare Part B are $104.90, more than double the $50 premiums of 2001. Back in 1966, the monthly premium was just $21.87 after adjusting for inflation.

Aging Population

One of the main drivers behind Medicare's looming insolvency is the United States' aging population. Back when Medicare was created, under one percent of the population was living to age 85 or later. Today, almost two percent of the population is 85 years or older. By 2050, the 85 and over population will be almost nine times larger than it was when Medicare was created.

Medicare Taxes and Benefits

The aging population means that people are eligible for more benefits, even though they paid about the same in taxes as someone who doesn't live as long. A 75-year-old paid about 2 percent of her lifetime earnings to Medicare and received about 7 percent of her lifetime earnings in benefits. For comparison, a 46 year old today will have paid about the same portion in taxes, but will receive 11 percent of his lifetime earnings in benefits by the time he dies. Growing benefits are causing Medicare's financial problems, not a lack of tax revenue.

Medicare's Cost

That's why Medicare's cost is exploding. In 2040, the annual cost of Medicare will stabilize at about 5.6 percent of the economy. Today it costs a full two percentage points less than it will then. The cost of Medicare has doubled since 1988.

Medicaid Enrollment and Spending

This graph from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows the difference between who's enrolled in Medicaid and who actually gets the most help from it. Almost half of Medicaid's enrollees are children, but just one-fifth of Medicaid's spending goes to kids. Meanwhile, the aged take up 8 percent of enrollees but receive 20 percent of all spending. The blind and disabled receive three times their portion of spending compared to their portion of enrollment.

States and Medicaid

State governments spend more on Medicaid than they spend on anything else. Twenty-six cents of every dollar spent by state governments goes to Medicaid, while 20 cents goes to K-12 education. Higher education receives 10 cents and transportation gets 8 cents.