Going Broke? Never Mind, Just Print More Money

Trustees project Medicare trust fund will be depleted in seven years………..So let’s do Medicare For All and see if we can go broke faster……………………………Never mind. Sam, fire up the ole printing press will ya………..we’ed be needing some money to pay for all this.

“The estimated depletion date for the [hospital insurance (HI)] trust fund is 2026, the same as in last year’s report. As in past years, the Trustees have determined that the fund is not adequately financed over the next 10 years…. In 2018, HI expenditures exceeded income by $1.6 billion. The Trustees project deficits in all future years until the trust fund becomes depleted in 2026…. Growth in HI expenditures has averaged 3.0 percent annually over the last 5 years, compared with non-interest income growth of 4.4 percent. Over the next 5 years, projected annual growth rates for expenditures and non-interest income are 7.0 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively.” [Also available: 2019 Expanded and Supplementary Tables and Figures (ZIP).]

2019 Medicare Trustees Report (PDF) 249 pages.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS], U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS]