The Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare released their annual projected financial analysis of the programs, concluding that Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2024, while Social Security will be depleted by 2036.
The report is slightly less optimistic than last year’s, in which the trustees predicted Medicare would last until 2029 and Social Security would last until 2037. New information has changed these predictions. In 2010 Social Security expenditures exceeded its non-interest income for the first time since 1983. The program is expected to continue to operate in a deficit, with a rapidly growing deficit after 2022. The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, suffering from both increased costs and lower revenues, is in even more immediate danger of going bankrupt.
The board recognizes that an increase in those eligible for these programs, a higher cost per beneficiary, and a decrease in those paying into the system are all factors contributing to the bleak financial outlook. The board stresses the importance of acting soon “If action is taken sooner rather than later, more options and more time will be available to phase in changes so that those affected have adequate time to prepare,” reads the report, “Earlier action will also afford elected officials with a greater opportunity to minimize adverse impacts on vulnerable populations, including lower-income workers and those who are already substantially dependent on program benefits.”
