Trustees Report & Trust Funds

The Medicare Program is the second-largest social insurance program in the U.S., with 55.3 million beneficiaries and total expenditures of $648 billion in 2015. The Boards of Trustees for Medicare (also Boards) report annually to the Congress on the financial operations and actuarial status of the program. Beginning in 2002, there is one combined report discussing both the Hospital Insurance program (Medicare Part A) and the Supplementary Medical Insurance program (Medicare Part B and Prescription Drug Coverage). The Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) prepares the report under the direction of the Boards.

The Boards of Trustees issued their most recent report on June 22, 2016. (See downloads below.)

The Trustees Report is a detailed, lengthy document, containing a substantial amount of information on the past and estimated future financial operations of the Hospital Insurance and Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds (see the links in the Downloads section below). We recommend that readers begin with the "Overview" section of the report. This section is fairly short, is written in "plain English," and summarizes all the key information concerning the expected financial outlook for Medicare. Substantial additional material is available in the later sections for those wishing to delve more deeply into the actuarial projections.

Table V.E3 (Part B Income-Related Monthly Premium Amounts) on page 206 in the report is incorrect. An errata sheet is located on the last page of the report and is also available at the downloads below.

The following expanded and supplementary tables have been provided to accompany the report. (See downloads below.)

• Components of Historical and Projected Increases in HI Inpatient Hospital Payments
• HI and SMI Average per Beneficiary Costs
• HI Cost and Income Rates
• HI and SMI Incurred Expenditures as a Percentage of the Gross Domestic Product
• Ratio of Assets at the Beginning of the Year to Expenditures During the Year for the HI Trust Fund
• Ratio of HI Taxable Payroll to GDP
• Historical Operations of the Part B Account of the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund For Calendar Years
• Historical Operations of the Part D Account of the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund For Calendar Years
• Historical Operations of the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund For Calendar Years
• Medicare Enrollment by Part and in Total
• Ratio of HI Covered Workers to HI Beneficiaries
• Medicare Sources of Income as a Percentage of Total Income
• Relationship between Increases in HI Expenditures and Increases in Taxable Payroll
• Total Medicare Income, Expenditures and Trust Fund Assets during Calendar Years 1967-2015
• Historical Operations of the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund For Calendar Years
• Medicare Sources of Non-Interest Income as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product
• HI and SMI Incurred Expenditures as a Percentage of the Gross Domestic Product under IA

The Social Security Administration publishes the following:

• Old-Age, Survivors & Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trustees Report (See Related Links below)
• Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs (See Related Links below)

Related information:

• Actuarial studies (See Related Links below)