Medicare and Social Security might push the federal government way into the red in 2030 – but they might start pushing the government way into the red as early as 2018.
Researchers at the U.S. Government Accountability Office have illustrated the possible effects of increasing expenditures on Medicare, Social Security and alternative minimum tax relief in an appendix to the GAO’s latest long-term fiscal outlook review.
If the government simply operates under the policies already in effect, the federal government should run a small surplus 10 years from now, then run a deficit equal to about 20% of the budget in around 2030, according to an illustration of the results obtained from one GAO simulation.