LONGEVITY LIABILITIES

Rising longevity puts pressure on Social Security and Medicare, but unequally. Life expectancy for the average 66-year-old increased 2.4 years between 1992-1994 and 2016-2018. Moreover, time spent with severe health limitations fell 30%. Applying 2017 mortality/morbidity patterns to a hypothetical 66-year-old finds public outlays rising $53,400, $42,500 coming from Social Security and $10,800 from Medicare. Longer lives increase expected lifetime Social Security spending by 14%, but Medicare spending by 6%.