Julia Cohen on June 5, 2018
Medicare will not be able to cover the cost of in-patient care beginning in 2026, three years earlier than initially predicted.
The Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund, or HI, will only be able to cover 91 percent of costs in 2026, according to a trustee report released on Tuesday. This would leave the trust fund $1.4 billion in debt. That number will increase to $58.7 billion the next year, according to the report.
The HI trust fund was previously expected to become insolvent in 2023, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The HI trust fund, or Medicare Part A, “helps pay for hospital, home health services following hospital stays, skilled nursing facility, and hospice care for the aged and disabled.” Medicare Part A paid $293.3 billion in benefits in 2017.
