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The
Medicare program's trust fund for hospital care will run out of
money in 2030 the trustees said in a report. That was the same
year as in their previous estimate, although the trustees said
the program now appears on better footing over the longer term.
When the fund runs out of money, Washington would only be able
to partially cover its obligations.
The trustees urged U.S. politicians to enact new laws to keep
that from happening, though they said the funding gap over the
longer run appears narrowed thanks to signs that healthcare
costs would be lower in the future.
"Notwithstanding the assumption of a substantial slowdown of per
capita health expenditure growth ... Medicare still faces a
substantial financial shortfall," the trustees said in the
report.
Trustees for the country's Social Security program repeated
their warning that Washington would run out of the money needed
to fully pay disability benefits by 2016.
Depletion of the Medicare and Social Security trust funds does
not mean that all benefits would stop. At the current rate of
payroll tax collections, Medicare would be able to pay about 86
percent of costs in 2030, declining to 80 percent by 2050.
Social Security would be able to pay about 81 percent of
disability benefits starting in "late 2016," the Treasury
Department said in a statement. In 2034, the Social Security
program would only have money to cover about three quarters of
the pensions that it pays.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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