Medicare houdt het mogelijk 2 jaar langer vol

The $574 billion Medicare health system, the second-largest U.S. social services program, will exhaust its main financial trust fund in 2026, two years later than predicted as the Affordable Care Act helps control costs.

Assets for the Part A trust that pays for hospital visits, nursing care and related services for Medicare’s 51 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries, fell $23.8 billion in 2012, according to a report today from the program’s trustees. That compares with a net drop in assets of $27.7 billion for 2011.