Medicare Trustees To Issue Annual Report On Financial Status Of Program; Third Consecutive Funding Warning Likely

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 26 Mar 2008 - 7:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

The board of trustees for Medicare and Social Security on Tuesday will issue an annual report on the financial status of the programs that likely will "kick off a fierce round of debate," the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. According to the AP/Chronicle, the "battle will be waged not only between the Democratic-controlled Congress and President Bush but also in this year's presidential campaign, where the issue is expected to attract a lot of attention in light of the looming retirement of 78 million baby boomers" (Crutsinger, AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/25).

The report likely will include few changes from last year, despite the recent economic downturn. Last year, the report estimated that the Medicare hospital trust fund will become insolvent by 2019 and that the Social Security trust fund will become insolvent by 2041 (Wayne, CQ Today, 3/24). "Medicare is facing much more imminent problems because of soaring health care costs," the AP/Chronicle reports (AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/25).

The report likely will include for the third consecutive year a "Medicare funding warning" -- an estimate that federal general fund revenue will finance more than 45% of total program costs within seven years. Under a "trigger" provision in the 2003 Medicare law, Bush had to submit a Medicare savings proposal to Congress after the trustees issued the second consecutive funding warning last year. Lawmakers have introduced the proposal as bills in the House and Senate, but Congress likely will not pass the legislation, according to CQ Today. However, lawmakers might select some provisions in the proposal and include them in the Medicare bill that Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) likely will introduce in July (Wayne, CQ Today, 3/24).

The report might face some scrutiny because both of the public trustee positions on the board are vacant for the first time since 1990. The other trustees, all Bush administration officials, include the Treasury, Labor and HHS secretaries and the Social Security commissioner (Young, CQ Today, 3/24).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.