Retirement Insights

Medicare Finances: A 2023 Update

Medicare Finances: A 2023 Update

Research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

The headlines from the 2023 Medicare Trustees Report were that the Hospital Insurance (HI) program faces a long-term deficit and will deplete its trust fund reserves in 2031 and that the rest of the Medicare program will require increasing amounts of general revenues. While true, the outlook for program costs is considerably more favorable than it was a decade and a half ago, and that picture persists even under an alternative scenario in the Trustees Report, which assumes that Congress phases out some of the cost controls in current law. Nevertheless, costs remain high. This brief summarizes the current state of Medicare’s finances.

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Since 2018, First Eagle Investments has collaborated with the Boston College Center for Retirement Research (CRR) to develop actionable insights and tools for plan sponsors, consultants and financial professionals. Leveraging CRR’s decades of scholarly research and First Eagle’s many years of practical experience, together we are committed to serving as a steadfast resource in support of American workers’ journey toward secure retirement. This content is part of a series of wide-ranging insights that explore key challenges that retirement savers face in the years leading up to and while in retirement. Additional topics address how different workers save in their company-sponsored retirement plans, what affects spending in retirement, and the impact of healthcare expenses for different segments of the retiree population.