Medicare turns 50 on July 30 – eligible for its own AARP card – but it is increasingly feeling the strains of retiring baby boomers.
Medicare is adding 10,000 new beneficiaries a day as baby boomers reach age 65. The Obama administration is in the midst of overhauling the way Medicare pays doctors and hospitals to emphasize quality results over the sheer volume of procedures, tests and services. The HHS has set a goal of tying 30% of payments under traditional Medicare to new models of care by the end of 2016 and an increasing share thereafter.
The trustees report also cautioned that the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which covers 11 million people, is projected to become insolvent in the fourth quarter of 2016, unchanged from last year. President Barack Obama has proposed shifting funding from another Social Security trust fund to address the imbalance.
The projected trust fund insolvency doesn’t mean that Medicare is “running out of money.” Even in 2030, when the hospital trust fund is projected for exhaustion, incoming payroll taxes and other revenues will cover 86% of program costs.
The Medicare trustees are Ms. Burwell, Treasury Secretary and Managing Trustee Jacob Lew, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, and Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin. Two other members are public representatives who are appointed by the president: Charles Blahous III and Robert Reischauer. CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt is designated as secretary of the board.
Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit national health policy news service. KHN’s coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by a grant from The SCAN Foundation.