Is Medicare worth saving?

[dkf]

59. The excess is also the Medicare part a trust fund.

Last edited Thu Nov 29, 2012, 06:46 PM - Edit history (2)

The date when the funds are insolvent is the date when the excess funds have been used by participants.

The thing is in the future the payroll taxes coming in won't cover the payments going out. The trust funds were funded to provide for those gaps. Upon expiration congress will either need to increase payroll taxes or cut benefits or use funding from the general fund which is already $16 trillion in debt.

This is also why the general deficit has future implications. It may not provide any flexibility to curb the cuts when the funds expire. When social security runs out of its trust funds, benefits need to fall by 25% or payroll taxes will need to be increased every few years.

They can also raise the cap but that would mean higher payouts when those folks retire. It might not sit well if we see some receiving million dollar social security paychecks.