Trustees: Medicare hospital fund extended 12 years

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Associated Press

The Associated Press
Thursday, August 5, 2010; 11:06 AM

WASHINGTON -- The annual checkup of the government's big benefit programs for the elderly showed that the administration's sweeping health care overhaul will extend the life of the Medicare hospital insurance fund by 12 years.

But officials are cautioning that the dramatic gain will depend on achieving significant savings in health care in coming years.

The annual trustees report for Medicare and Social Security shows that the Medicare Hospital trust fund will not be exhausted until 2029, 12 years longer than estimated last year. That improvement was credited to the cost savings that will occur with the passage earlier this year of health care reform.

The trustees say the recession has made the outlook for the Social Security trust fund worse in the near term, however.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/05/AR2010080500643.html?hpid=topnews

[elleng]

1. Law Will Extend Medicare Fund, Report Says.

Source: nyt

The financial outlook for both Medicare and Social Security improved due to changes mandated by the new law overhauling the health insurance system, the programs’ trustees conclude in their annual reports released on Thursday. But Medicare, especially, continues to face insolvency in the long term as the population ages.

Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund should remain solvent until 2029, or 12 years more than projected in last year's report, the trustees said. The long-term, 75-year shortfall for the hospital fund also is reduced, as are the projected costs of the separate Medicare Supplementary Insurance program. But both parts of the Medicare system will require additional reforms to be financially sustainable, the trustees say.

Social Security’s long-range finances stand to improve slightly starting in 2019, they said, from a new tax that takes effect that year on the priciest health insurance plans, which generally go to highly paid managers and executives. The tax is expected to result in a shift of compensation for such individuals from health benefits to income, which is subject to the payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/health/policy/06medicare.html?hp

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/health/policy/06medicare.html?hp

[ProSense]

2. Trustees: Medicare hospital fund extended 12 years

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – A report on the financial condition of the Medicare and Social Security programs contends the Obama administration's sweeping health care overhaul will extend the life of the Medicare hospital insurance fund by 12 years — an assertion that Medicare's top numbers-cruncher disputed.

The report acknowledged in its own right that the brighter outlook for Medicare assumes achievement of significant savings in health care, a scenario critics argue is highly questionable. And in what amounted to a dissenting opinion, top Medicare actuary Richard Foster warned that the report's financial projections "do not represent a reasonable expectation."

The conflicting renderings by federal officials centered on the annual report of the trustees for Medicare and Social Security, released Thursday. It found that the Medicare Hospital trust fund will not be exhausted until 2029, 12 years longer than estimated last year.

The recession, however, has worsened the near-term outlook for the Social Security trust fund, the report said.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100805/ap_on_bi_ge/us_medicare_social_security_11

[Green_Lantern]

3. it's pretty funny how GOP plays Catch 22 with SS...

If SS runs a surplus they say it proves the govt. is collecting more in taxes than it needs in revenue and demand big tax cuts.

But if SS runs a potential shortfall they demand privatization.

Please don't kid yourself, most Republicans hate SS.

SS shouldn't be seen as an individual investment but society taking care of people at a time they shouldn't have to be worrying about having to make ends meet.

I collect SS due to disability and I have heard people call me a sponge and/or tell me "if you can be on a computer you certainly can get a job."

Sorry if that promotes so-called laziness.