Medicare Trustees Report Shows Significant Improvements for Seniors and Taxpayers
Posted July 28, 2014
by Jeanne Lambrew, Deputy Assistant to the President for Health Policy and Tim Gronniger, Senior Policy Advisor for the Domestic Policy Council.Ed note: This blog was originally posted on the White House blog here – http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/07/28/medicare-trustees-report-shows-significant-improvements-seniors-and-taxpayers
Today’s annual report from the Medicare program’s Boards of Trustees brings good news about the program’s financial future: Its Trust Fund will last four more years, to 2030, and projected Part B premiums for 2015 will not increase for the second year in a row.
As we celebrate Medicare’s 49th birthday this week, we will recommit to ensuring that the program continues providing health and economic security for the nation’s elderly and people with disabilities through the 21st century and beyond. Today’s news shows that we are on the right track, and we are optimistic that the promising results we’ve seen in recent years can continue into the future.
In 2009, the Trustees projected the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund would not be able to pay its bills in 2017 – just three years from now. Today’s new date is 2030, 13 years later than that projection – an improvement that is thanks in part to reforms in the Affordable Care Act (Chart 1). The law implemented changes to promote value-based payments, reduce waste and fraud, and strengthen the program’s benefits. These changes, for example, have reduced hospital spending on preventable readmissions, helping to lower hospital costs, which constitute a significant portion of trust fund spending.
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