Brief Medicare Solvency Roundtable: Insights from Leading Experts to Keep Medicare on Solid Financial Ground
Bowen Garrett, Adele Shartzer, Diane Arnos
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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, which pays for hospital and most institutional services under Medicare Part A, will be depleted in 2027. If this occurs, full payments to providers for services covered under Part A would be delayed, which could ultimately harm the level of care patients receive. From 2022 to 2031, HI Trust Fund revenues are projected to fall $494 billion short of spending. The Urban Institute convened a panel of national experts in March 2021 to discuss policy options to address the solvency of Medicare’s Part A trust fund. This brief presents background material on Medicare spending and proposals to address Medicare program solvency and summarizes panelists’ comments about the policy options considered. We present the views of multiple experts who attended the meeting, while providing a synthesis of the discussion.

Research Areas Health and health care Aging and retirement Taxes and budgets
Tags Health insurance Federal health care reform Health care delivery and payment Medicare Medicare and private health insurance Federal budget and economy Retirement policy Federal tax issues and reform proposals
Policy Centers Health Policy Center