New York, June 19 -- U.S. Medicare and Social Security may face earlier-than-expected insolvency as rising health care costs and a new Social Security law strain their finances, local media reported Wednesday.
The projected depletion date for Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund has been moved up to 2033, three years earlier than the 2036 estimate published in 2024. Likewise, Social Security's combined trust funds are now expected to run out by 2034, a year earlier than last year's projection.
The last major Social Security overhaul in 1983 gradually raised the full retirement age to 67, cutting benefits by 13 percent. Medicare eligibility remains unchanged: coverage begins at age 65.
About 68 million people in the United States ...