As the Hospital Insurance trust fund continues to trudge toward its 2026 expected depletion, a new brief from social and economic policy think tank the Urban Institute claims that there are ways to address the looming cliff without broad Medicare reform.
Authors of the brief said they were not optimistic about the ability to enact long-term Medicare reform. Instead, they pitched accounting, revenue and spending measures that would aim to curtail the depletion primarily by reducing spending.
The authors explored a feasible accounting-based approach including the redirection of funds, but they concluded that it would reduce the federal deficit.
The brief encourages Medicare to focus on services where payments are significantly higher than provider costs. Lowering spending on graduate medical education and prescription drug spending are also key.