Tag: Medicare Trustees Report

Doctor and patient are discussing diagnosis

What captures the headlines about Medicare is the exhaustion date of the Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund. But HI is only 38 percent of Medicare expenditures today and is projected to decline further, and the HI shortfall – once the trust fund assets are depleted – is only 11 percent of HI expenditures. Thus, t…

stethoscope on banknote and piggy bank on white background

Expenditures are high and projected to rise because national healthcare costs are out of control. The 2024 Medicare Trustees Report (released this spring) got almost no attention, contained no bad news.  It is true that, under current law, Medicare Part A – the Hospital Insurance (HI) program – faces a long-term deficit, but that deficit…