The fund that finances Medicare's hospital insurance coverage will last more than a decade longer than previously expected, according to a recent report.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare board of trustees had estimated that hospital coverage will remain solvent until 2030. However, under this year's projection, it expects the trust fund to continue 13 years longer than projected in 2009, before the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The good news is due to the fact that growth in per-beneficiary costs is historically low, averaging 1.3% per year over the past five years, CMS said. In part due to provisions in the ACA, per-enrollee Medicare spending growth over the next decade is expected to continue to be lower than the overall growth in overall health expenditures, at 4.2% versus 5.1%, the report said.
