Forecasting can provide policy-relevant knowledge about future states of affairs which are likely to occur as a consequence of adopting alternatives, including doing nothing, that are under consideration at the phase of policy formulation. Forecasting can examine plausible, potential, and normatively valued futures, estimate the consequence of existing and proposed policies, specify probable future constraints on the achievement of objectives, and estimate the political feasibility (support and opposition) of different options. Analysts in the Health Care Finance Administration, for example, recently employed forecasting methods (statistical projection) to estimate that unless additional revenues are generated, the trust fund for Medicare will be exhausted by the year 2005. In the absence of new health care policy initiatives, benefits under Medicare in 2005 would need to be reduced by $46 billion and, ultimately, the program would need to be cut by more than 50 percent. In the meantime, those 33 to 38 million persons who have no health insurance are likely to increase in number.