Retirees who rely on Medicare for health-care coverage may see those benefits diminish in as soon as eight years.
The program's hospital insurance trust fund, which pays for Medicare Part A benefits including inpatient hospital care, may only pay 100% of benefits through 2031, according to projections from Medicare's trustees.
When it comes to repairing the programs' funds, Congressional lawmakers generally have two choices: raise taxes, cut benefits or a combination of both.
"It's simple arithmetic: raise revenue or cut benefits," Whitehouse said of preserving Medicare.
"If we abide by what seemed like a bipartisan commitment not to cut benefits," said Whitehouse, referring the State of the Union earlier this year, "we must safeguard Medicare by raising revenue."
Persons:
Sen, Sheldon Whitehouse, Whitehouse, Joe Biden
Organizations:
Medicare, Finance, Social Security, Security