Medicare Part A will no longer be able to pay the total cost of Medicare beneficiaries hospital costs by 2033, according to the annual Trustees Report.
The date is three years sooner than the trustees predicted in 2024.
The annual report, published by the leaders of the departments of Labor, Treasury, Health and Human Services and the Social Security commissioner, rates the solvency of Medicare, Social Security and other programs. The 2025 report was published June 18.
Here are five things to know:
- By 2033, the hospital insurance trust fund will only be able to cover 89% of projected Medicare Part A expenses.
- The supplementary medical insurance trust fund, which covers Medicare Part B and D expenses, is adequately financed for the foreseeable future, according to the report, because the fund is predominately funded by beneficiary premiums.
- Medicare costs in 2024 were higher than anticipated in 2024, bringing the date the hospital insurance trust fund will no longer be able to cover all its expenses closer, the trustees wrote in a summary to the public. The trustees also included increased inpatient and hospice service costs in projections for the near term, they wrote. In the longer term, economic and demographic changes will partially offset these costs.
- The commission expects part A expenditures to nearly double between 2024 and 2034, from $422.5 billion in 2024 to $827.3 billion in 2034.
- The trustees point to a “substantial need” for changes to address Medicare’s financial challenges.
