Solvency of Medicare Trust Fund Extended 12 Yrs

   WASHINGTON - (BUSINESS WIRE) - 8/11/2010 - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius joined Secretary of Treasury and Managing Trustee Tim Geithner, Secretary of Labor and Trustee Hilda Solis, and Commissioner of Social Security and Trustee Michael J. Astrue to release the 2010 Annual Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report.
   The Trustees announced that the solvency of the Medicare Hospital Trust Fund will be extended by 12 years until 2029.  
   "It is clear that the Affordable Care Act is helping to strengthen the solvency of the Medicare Trust fund and preserve this important program that millions of Americans rely on for their health care," Sebelius said. "We are committed to delivering the kinds of reforms to help increase quality and lower costs through our new CMS Innovation Center and quality reforms. In addition to the provisions of the new law cited in this report that will help make Medicare stronger, there are other important reforms going into effect that will help bring down costs and reduce fraud and waste in the system.”
    In addition to Secretary Sebelius' remarks at the Trustees press conference which can be found below, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted a statement on today's Trustee Report from CMS Administrator Don Berwick on Medicare's home page: http://www.medicare.gov under “What’s New.”
    CMS also posted a fact sheet on the Medicare Trustees Report and can be found here: http://www.cms.gov/apps/media/press/factsheet.asp?Counter=3823.
   Earlier this month HHS and CMS released a report about savings that have released to date thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which can be found here: http://www.cms.gov/apps/docs/ACA-Update-Implementing-Medicare-Costs-Savings.pdf.