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and extends Gramm-Rudman one year to reach a balanced budget.
I am cosponsoring similar legislation for the Social Security, Highway and Aviation Trust Funds.
But just as the overall Federal budget is operating in the red, the Medicare program itself is heading for bankruptcy. The second purpose of the Medicare Trust Fund Integrity Act is to focus Congressional attention on the impending Medicare insolvency before we are faced with another taxpayer bailout.
In their annual reports to Congress, the Medicare Trustees have repeatedly warned that the HI Trust Fund, which provides essential Part A hospital benefits to millions of Medicare beneficiaries, is going bankrupt. Rising health care costs and a growing number of retirees are rapidly drawing down the HI reserves.
The Trustees’ 1990 report estimates that HI may go broke by 1999 or 2003, depending on economic assumptions. Rather than wait for a crisis requiring a major tax hike and/or a cut in benefits, now is the time for Congress to look for ways to ensure Medicare’s solvency. To attain our goal of a balanced Federal budget over the long-term, Congress must look down the road and pre
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