This page covers:
- Medicare will be underfunded in 2036 and Social Security in 2035.
- Generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha are faced with $175 trillion of unfunded Medicare and Social Security costs.
- Baby boomers will escape the most draconian effects.
- The follow-on generations are hit with the full impact.
- For Generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha, passivity about reforming U.S. health care, is not an option.
Baby Boomers and Generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha
Paying For Benefits You Are Unlikely To Receive
For decades, congress and administrations have known Medicare and Social Security benefits were seriously underfunded for generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha.
Rather than creating solutions to keep the programs strong and solvent for current and future generations, congress kicked “the can” (the under-funded programs) down the street to generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha.
Congress also punted the ever-growing $35 trillion national debt to generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha.
Medicare Funding
Funding for Medicare totaled about $1 trillion in 2023. Medicare’s funding comes primarily from general revenues (federal government contributions), payroll tax revenues paid by employers and workers, and premiums paid by beneficiaries.
By 2036, there will be insufficient revenues and reserves to pay full benefits for the year. Medicare will be only able to pay 89% of costs covered under Medicare Part A using payroll tax revenues in that year.
This (link) to a KFF article, provides a detailed overview of Medicare funding and financial projections.
$175 Tillion Of Underfunded Benefits
The U.S. Treasury’s 2024 annual financial report states that over the next 75 years:
“The total resources needed for all the programs [Medicare and Social Security] sums to $175.3 trillion in PV [present value] terms. This need can be satisfied only through increased borrowing, higher taxes, reduced program spending [cutting benefits], or some combination;” (page 193- link).
- $175.3 trillion is equal to more than 6 years of the 2024 U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).
- To fund $175.3 trillion, the federal government will have to collect 52% more in taxes annually ($2.3 trillion) for the next 75 years.
- $175.3 trillion represents an additional $650,000 tax burden for each person in generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha, to have the same level of benefits as the Baby Boomers; but does not include the financial burden of the national debt.
Passive Acceptance Is Not An Option
Unlike the Baby Boomer generation, who are mostly secure in their benefits, generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha cannot be passive about the future of Medicare and Social Security.
Your generations are paying taxes for Medicare and Social Security, but your benefits will be far more limited than the programs of today, unless reform is implemented.
Only your generation’s participation in the national alliance of citizens, employers, and communities, can compel congress to reform U.S. health care and bring about a transition to universal health care.
Generations, Medicare, And Social Security
By 2036 the living baby boomers and generations X, Y, Z, and Alpha will experience 11% reduction in Medicare benefits and 25% reduction in Social Security benefits.
These reductions will occur and increase if health care is not reformed.
| Generation Name | Years Of Birth | Medicare Eligible2 | Persons Impacted3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946 to 1964 | 2011 to 2029 | 48.9 million4 |
| Generation X | 1965 to 1980 | 2030 to 2045 | 65.2 million5 |
| Generation Y1 | 1981 to 1996 | 2046 to 2061 | 72.1 million5 |
| Generation Z1 | 1997 to 2012 | 2062 to 2077 | 68.0 million5 |
| Generation Alpha | 2010 to 2025 | 2078 to 2090 | 58.0 million5 |
1 Generation “Y” also called Millennials; Generation “Z” also called Zoomers (Generation definition source Wikipedia)
2 Earliest and latest years of persons in the generation to reach age 65 and eligible for Medicare benefits.
3 Number of persons in each generation that will experience a reduction in Medicare benefits.
4 Of 71.6 million baby boomers, by 2031 about 48.9 million will be 79 years old or younger (79 is average life expectancy for this generation). By 2040 only 15.0 million will be 79 or younger.
5 100% of these generations that will not receive full Medicare or Social Security benefits, unless health care reform is implemented and taxes increased.