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| Social Security trust fund to be exhausted by 2035 and Medicare in 2036, trustees project |
| 2024-05-07 |
| [Washington Examiner] The Medicare trust fund will be exhausted in 2036, and the combined Social Security trust fund will become exhausted in 2035, the programs’ trustees projected on Monday. The report illustrates the long-term problems facing the entitlement programs, on which tens of millions of people rely. Nevertheless, it contained good news in that the deadlines have been moved back a bit from last year’s projections. The extended timeline gives a bit more breathing room to Congress, where the looming depletion of the trust fund has become a top political issue. Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have vowed not to cut the popular entitlement benefits for seniors. Still, the fact that the dates are still just over a decade away is another reminder of the fiscal cliffs that are looming large and the need for lawmakers to craft a plan to keep the programs solvent. "The Biden-Harris administration has promised to build an economy from the middle out and the bottom up — that includes ensuring that workers and their families can count on the Social Security and Medicare benefits they have earned throughout their lives," acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said. MEDICARE Medicare is the government health insurance plan primarily covering people aged 65 or older. It was first implemented in 1965 and has been a popular entitlement program for older people and retirees. The new projections show that the expected date of exhaustion of the Medicare trust fund has been pushed back from 2031 to 2036. At that point, the Medicare fund’s reserves will become depleted and the continuing program income will be enough to pay just 89% of total scheduled benefits. The improvement from last year’s trustee projections is due to several factors, according to the report, including higher payroll tax income because of the stronger-than-expected economy and because actual 2023 expenditures were lower than expected last year. Plus, the trustees cited "a policy change correcting for the way medical education expenses are accounted for in Medicare Advantage rates starting in 2024." SOCIAL SECURITY AND DISABILITY INSURANCE TRUST FUNDS The exhaustion date for the trust fund for the combined Social Security retirement and disability funds has been pushed back by a year. Social Security is a popular retirement program that can first start to be claimed at age 62, although benefits increase the longer one waits to claim them, with benefits capping out at a retirement age of 70. Likewise, the trustees predict that the combined Social Security trust fund and Disability Insurance trust fund will only be enough to pay 83% of scheduled benefits sometime in 2035. Social Security’s looming insolvency is driven, in part, by declining birthrates. While life expectancy has increased since Social Security’s creation in the New Deal era, the ratio of workers to beneficiaries has declined, further putting pressure on the system. Related: Medicare trust fund: 2011-08-06 U.S. Debt Now Surpasses 2010 GDP Medicare trust fund: 2010-01-29 Health Bill 'On Life Support' After Obama Appeal Medicare trust fund: 2009-11-13 Reid Mulls Medicare Tax Increase for High Earners Related: Social Security trust fund: 2021-09-06 Social Security won't be able to pay full benefits by 2034 Social Security trust fund: 2021-09-01 Social Security trust funds now projected to run out of money sooner than expected due to Covid, Treasury says Social Security trust fund: 2011-06-04 China dumps 97 percent of short-term T bills |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #6 They'll just print more money to cover it. No worries. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2024-05-07 09:40 |
| #5 /\ Donk Congress did away with maintaining two books on the accounting and merged it with the normal tax income stream. Yes! They discovered they could "borrow" from it. The credibility of the system took a nose dive from which it has never recovered. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2024-05-07 06:55 |
| #4 It's not a 'trust fund'. It stood SCOTUS challenge by being classified as a tax. In the 60's the Johnson administration and Donk Congress did away with maintaining two books on the accounting and merged it with the normal tax income stream. It'll run out when the printing presses stop or the computers can no longer handle that big of a number. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2024-05-07 06:45 |
| #3 Stop and think of all the things that SSA pays out $$$$$ that were NEVER part of, or meant to be. ALSO How about cutting a lot of social $$$$$ play outs and teaching more personal responsibility. How about FREE Birth Control Pills & Condoms, instead of more SNAP benefits or other Free Taxpayer $$$$. How about requiring the Mothers with a growing collection of illegitimate kids to ID the dads and start docking the Sperm Donor's paycheck or STATE/FED checks. How about an Annual audit of all Section 8 housing. To see if UNAUTHORIZED persons are living there, or if the authorized Section 8 person is renting out a room(s)? |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2024-05-07 06:26 |
| #2 Social Security, a mandatory insurance program that goes broke. What does that tell you ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2024-05-07 04:58 |
| #1 Well, that's 11-12 years from now. I won't need them. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2024-05-07 04:39 |