NewsLetter - June 2018

DEPRESSING IF TRUE

“Medicare to go broke three years earlier than expected, trustees say.

Medicare’s hospital trust fund is expected to run out of money in 2026, three years earlier than previously projected, the program’s trustees said in a new report published this afternoon.

“The more pessimistic outlook is largely due to reduce revenues from payroll and Social Security taxes, and higher payments than expected to hospitals and private Medicare plans last year.

“The solvency report is the first since the repeal of Obamacare’s Independent Payment Advisory Board earlier this year as part of a massive spending agreement in Congress. The panel outside experts was designed to tame excessive Medicare spending growth, but costs never grew fast enough to trigger the controversial board, and no members were ever appointed. Social Security faces depletion in 2034, the program’s trustees also said today. That’s identical to last year’s projection.”

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/05/medicare-outlook-2026-625908

GOOD NEWS? BAD NEWS?

From my friend and long-term care guru, Bill Dyess.

I don’t know if it’s good news that someone needed LTC this long, but it was certainly good news that their insurance covered them. Here are the largest claims as of 12/31/2017 (and they’re still being paid!)

PITHY THOUGHT

For market timers….

Think about the few times when there was lots of certainty—2000 or 2009. How did that work out?