The Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund will have sufficient funds to cover its obligations until 2030, the same year that was projected last year, and 13 years later than was projected in the last report issued prior to passage of the Affordable Care Act. The projected portion of scheduled benefits that can be financed with dedicated revenues is 86 percent in 2030, declines slowly to 79 percent in 2039, and then gradually increases to 84 percent in 2089. The 75-year actuarial deficit in the HI Trust Fund is projected at 0.68 percent of taxable payroll, down from 0.87 percent projected in last year’s report. The improved long-term outlook for HI is primarily due to a change in the projection methodology that results in a lower estimate for long-range health care cost growth for HI and other parts of Medicare.

The Social Security Trustees' annual report for Social Security and Medicare was released Wednesday , and once again has good news for Medicare.Just to reiterate that: Medicare has 13 additional years of life after the passage of Obamacare. That's because of the cost savings Obamacare has already achieved for the program, the "lower estimate for long-range health care cost growth" part. That's a pretty significant achievement, one that every Republican candidate for president, not to mention the Republican Congress, would be perfectly willing to sacrifice by repealing the law. Because they're "fiscally conservative."