Yesterday, the Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their annual reports, which show that these vital programs are on an unsustainable path. Next year, Social Security will spend more than it takes in and by 2035, the combined Social Security Trust Funds (for both retirement and disability benefits) are projected to be exhausted. Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund will be depleted even sooner — in 2026. The aging of the population and increasing healthcare costs continue to put pressure on these programs and, without action, benefits in the future would be significantly reduced.
Below are five key takeaways from the reports.
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