The June 22 release of the annual Medicare Trustees Report has, as usual, elicited conflicting responses. Some have focused on the positive—Medicare spending per enrollee has continued to grow at a historically slow rate—while others have emphasized the negative — the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund is now projected to run out of resources in 2028, two years earlier last year’s projection. Both of these responses are legitimate, and both are incomplete representations of the situation the program faces.
As it enters its second 50 years, Medicare has been successful in assuring the health and economic security of the nation’s elderly and disabled. It has been influential in shaping the U.S. health system, improving the quality of care, and contributing to medical progress.
– Health Affairs
