June 6, 2018
Contact: Matt Shepard (MShepard@MedicareAdvocacy.org, 860-456-7790)
The Medicare trustees estimate the Part A Trust Fund will be insolvent in 2026, three years sooner than last year’s projection. The good news is this is about nine years later than it would have been without the Affordable Care Act. The bad news is the projection reflects recent, ill-advised laws and policies – including the recent tax cut, increased enrollment in and inflated payments to private Medicare Advantage plans, and increased spending, particularly for prescription drugs.
"The Trustees projection should not be used as an excuse to cut Medicare benefits for older and disabled people," says Center for Medicare Advocacy Executive Director Judith Stein. "Instead, the Administration and Congress should negotiate drug prices for the whole Medicare program, stop Medicare Advantage overpayments, and end efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act."
More information:
- US. Department of the Treasury Fact Sheet – https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm0405
- Trustees Report – https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/ReportsTrustFunds/Downloads/TR2018.pdf
The Center for Medicare Advocacy (https://www.medicareadvocacy.org) is a national, nonprofit, non-partisan law organization that works to advance access to comprehensive Medicare coverage and quality health care for older people and people with disabilities through legal analysis, education, and advocacy.