Medicare, the second-largest social insurance program in the U.S. with 55.3 million beneficiaries had total expenditures of $648 billion in 2015. The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will have sufficient funds to cover its obligations until 2028, two years earlier than projected last year, according to the latest annual report from the Medicare Board of Trustees. Per-enrollee Medicare spending growth has averaged 1.4% over the past five years and is expected to remain lower than overall health spending growth over the next decade. Medicare costs for prescription drugs continue to exceed other cost growth, however, with average Part D spending per enrollee expected to grow 5.8% annually through 2025.
The report can be accessed at https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/ReportsTrustFunds/Downloads/TR2016.pdf.