Annual checkup for Social Security and Medicare

[May 12, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Analysts predict a report due out today will show that the Social Security and Medicare trust funds will run out of money sooner than projected a year ago.

The worst recession in decades and resulting high unemployment will lead to a bleaker forecast for both Social Security and Medicare in this year's trustees' report. The downturn has resulted in a loss of 5.7 million payroll jobs since it began in December 2007 and an unemployment rate that hit a 25-year high of 8.9 percent in April.

Fewer people working means less money paid into the trust funds for Social Security and Medicare.

Last year, trustees predicted the Social Security trust fund would be depleted by 2041, while the Medicare trust fund would run out of cash by 2019.

[Associated Press; By MARTIN CRUTSINGER]

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