Medicare Hospital Trust Fund Now Projected To Go Broke In 2036
A new financial report indicates that Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund has gained an additional five years over the previous estimate for when it will run out of money, but the overall outlook for the security net program remains grim.
AP:
Medicare And Social Security Go-Broke Dates Pushed Back
The go-broke dates for Medicare and Social Security have been pushed back as an improving economy has contributed to changed projected depletion dates, according to the annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report Monday. Still, officials warn that policy changes are needed lest the programs become unable to pay full benefits to retiring Americans. Medicare’s go-broke date for its hospital insurance trust fund was pushed back five years to 2036 in the latest report, thanks in part to higher payroll tax income and lower-than-projected expenses from last year. (Hussein and Murphy, 5/6)
The Washington Post:
Social Security And Medicare Finances Look Grim As Overall Debt Piles Up
Neither President Joe Biden nor former president Donald Trump have released proposals to right Social Security’s finances. Biden has signaled a desire to raise taxes on individuals earning more than $400,000 and devote that new revenue to the Social Security Trust Fund. In his past two State of the Union addresses, the president declared absolute opposition to cutting social safety net benefits. Trump has floated cuts to the programs, but quickly backpedaled from that position and insisted he wouldn’t support reducing benefits. (Bogage and Weil, 5/6)
In news from Capitol Hill —
Modern Healthcare:
New Bill Targets Drug Shortages Through Medicare, Medicaid
In a bid to curtail the ongoing problem of drug shortages, the Senate Finance Committee proposed legislation offering incentives to hospitals and other providers to stockpile certain medications. The bill, which would be known as the Drug Shortage Prevention and Mitigation Act, looks to spur manufacturing of drugs at risk of short supply by inducing providers to sign longer-term purchasing arrangements. (McAuliff, 5/6)
The Washington Post:
Congresswoman Battling Brain Disorder Delivers House Speech Using A Text-To-Voice App
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) stepped to the microphone on the House floor Monday to speak about one of her latest pieces of legislation, as she has done many times before during her five years in Congress. But the voice that gave the speech wasn’t hers — it was from a text-to-voice application, an assistive device she uses to help her navigate a degenerative brain condition with which she was diagnosed last year. Wexton’s disorder — progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) — has largely affected her ability to speak, hear and move. With the help of the assistive app, the congresswoman on Monday spoke about legislation she introduced to rename a post office in Purcellville, Va., after former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who lived in nearby Hillsboro, Va. (Alfaro, 5/6)
On the Affordable Care Act —
KFF Health News:
Biden Team’s Tightrope: Reining In Rogue Obamacare Agents Without Slowing Enrollment
President Joe Biden counts among his accomplishments the record-high number of people, more than 21 million, who enrolled in Obamacare plans this year. Behind the scenes, however, federal regulators are contending with a problem that affects people’s coverage: rogue brokers who have signed people up for Affordable Care Act plans, or switched them into new ones, without their permission. (Appleby, 5/7)
