"Medicare spending is driven by a variety of factors, such as the level of enrollment, the complexity of medical services provided, health care inflation, and life expectancy. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that total Medicare spending in 2019 will be about $772 billion; of this amount, about $749 billion will be spent on benefits."CBO estimates that the federal portion of Medicare spending (after deduction of beneficiary premiums and other offsetting receipts) will be close to $637 billion in 2019, accounting for about 14% of total federal spending and 3% of GDP. Over the next 10 years, Medicare spending is…

"The Medicare program has two separate trust funds—the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, which finances Part A, and the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund, which finances Parts B and D. (Part C payments are made in appropriate parts from both the HI and SMI Trust Funds.) Both funds are maintained by the Department of the Treasury and overseen by a Board of Trustees, which reports annually to Congress."Similar to Social Security, the HI portion of Medicare was designed to be self-supporting and is financed through dedicated sources of income. The primary source is payroll taxes paid by employees and…