According to the Medicare Trustees’ annual reports released Monday, April 3, the Hospital Insurance trust fund will remain solvent until year 2023, based on the most probable economic and demographic assumptions. The life expectancy of Social Security has also increased by three years, from 2034 to 2037. Medicare’s projected depletion date has been extended by eight years from the forecast of 2015 made by the trustees last year. The new estimate is the longest projection of solvency since 1974.

The trustees credited the combination of the robust economy and restrained expenditures for extending the expected solvency of the trust funds. Still, the report recommends that steps be taken to address the remaining long-range financial problems in the trust fund. Fears remain, however, that the report’s optimistic news will relieve pressure on Washington to reform the government programs.