[kabar]

Actually, the federal government takes in enough revenue in payroll taxes (FICA) to pay about 98% of current Social Security and Medicare expenditures.

Not so for Medicare. The General Fund pays for 51% of all Medicare costs. Medicare Part A is funded thru the HI trust fund, which started cashing in its IOUs in 2008. By law, the General Fund pays for 75% of the Medicare Parts B and D costs. The premiums only account for 25% of the costs. In 2011 the projected expenditures for SMI (Medicare Parts B and D) will amount to $295 billion, 75% of which are paid by the General Fund. SMI costs are larger than Medicare Part A costs. The HI trust fund will run out in 2024 because of the Obamacare "fix." Prior to that the date was 2017.

[CA Conservative]

Thanks for the correction.