Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medicare Trustees: Program's Trust Fund Will Be Solvent Until 2030
Kaiser Health News: Good News, Bad News In Medicare Trustees Report
As Medicare approaches its 50th anniversary next week, the federal program got some welcome financial news Wednesday: Its giant hospital trust fund will be solvent until 2030, and its long-term outlook has improved, according to a report from the program’s trustees. But the report warned that several million Medicare beneficiaries could see their Medicare Part B monthly premiums skyrocket by 52 percent in January — from $104.90 to $159.30. Medicare Part B, which is paid for by a combination of federal funds and beneficiary premiums, generally covers physician and outpatient costs. (Galewitz, 7/23)
The Wall Street Journal: Social Security, Medicare Outlook: Better But Still Bleak
Meanwhile, the report said Medicare’s hospital-insurance program, which insured around 1.6 million more people last year than it did the previous year, will be able to pay full benefits for elderly and disabled patients through 2030. The estimate is unchanged from last year’s projection. As recently as 2009, trustees had estimated that the hospital-care fund would be depleted by 2017. (Timiraos, 7/22)
Reuters: Main Fund For Medicare Program To Run Out Of Money In 2030
A slowdown in healthcare spending has shored up the funding outlook for the federal program that pays elderly Americans' hospital bills, trustees of the program said on Wednesday. (7/22)
The Associated Press: 5 Things From Annual Check-Up For Social Security, Medicare
Looking at the big picture, the financial health of Social Security and Medicare doesn’t appear to have worsened. Wednesday’s annual check-up found that Social Security’s retirement trust fund has enough money to pay full benefits until 2035, a year later than previously projected. Medicare’s giant trust fund for inpatient care won’t be exhausted until 2030, the same date as last year’s report. But below those reassuring projections, program trustees said there’s cause for concern. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Ohlemacher, 7/23)
The Associated Press: Report: Social Security Disability Fund To Run Dry Next Year
The 11 million Americans who receive Social Security disability face steep benefit cuts next year, the government said Wednesday, handing lawmakers a fiscal and political crisis in the middle of a presidential campaign. ... In more bad news for beneficiaries, the trustees project there will be no cost-of-living increase in benefits at the end of the year. It would mark only the third year without an increase since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975. Separately, about 7 million Medicare beneficiaries could face a monthly premium increase of at least $54 for outpatient coverage. (Ohlemacher and Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/22)
Los Angeles Times: Disability Benefits For 11 Million People At Risk As Congress In Stalemate
Nearly 11 million Americans who receive federal disability benefits risk seeing their checks reduced unless Congress acts by next year to replenish the system's trust fund, the Social Security trustees reported Wednesday. The pending cash crunch in the disability fund is one of those slow-motion -- and largely self-created -- crises that Congress usually fails to resolve until a deadline hits. The latest report puts that deadline, the date when the disability trust fund will reach insolvency, in fall of 2016. After that point, tax revenues will cover only about 80% of scheduled disability benefits, unless Congress acts to fix the system. (Lauter, 7/22)
The New York Times: Social Security Disability Benefits Face Cuts In 2016, Trustees Say
The trustees, in their report, said that the squeeze on the disability program was “but the first manifestation of larger financial imbalances facing Social Security as a whole, as well as Medicare.” They predicted that Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund would be exhausted in 2030, the same as projected last year. (Pear, 7/22)
