Seen at WSJ.com (subscriber link):
The U.S. Social Security trust funds are expected to be exhausted by 2041, a year later than last year’s estimate, while the Medicare trust fund is projected to go broke by 2019, also one year later than 2006 projections, according to the latest annual report from the funds’ trustees.[.]
“The financial condition of the Social Security and Medicare programs remains problematic,” the trustees said in the report released Monday. “We believe their current projected long-run growth rates are not sustainable under current financing arrangements.”
The trustees said “the positive effects of updates in program data and minor changes in methods and assumptions,” a change described as “technical,” helped explain the “slight improvement” in the outlook for Social Security. The improved picture for Medicare was likewise explained by minor variances, such as “slightly higher projected payroll tax income and slightly lower projected benefits than previously estimated.”
The article goes on to note that Medicare is expected to begin tapping its trust fund (read: the federal government will have to start borrowing more to pay off what it owes Medicare) this year, while Social Security benefits are expected to begin exceeding revenues in 2017.
Note to any politicians reading this: the longer you wait on a solution, the tougher it will be to implement.