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Medicare Trust Fund

The government's worst-kept secret is being released today. The Medicare Plan A trust fund -- which is used to pay hospital and home health bills for more than thirty-seven million elederly and disabled people -- will go broke in 2001 instead of 2002, unless something is done to fix it. NPR's Joanne Silberner looks at the Medicare Trustees report and what it means for the future of the program. Most economic analysts find very little difference in the Republican or Democratic proposals to make it solvent.

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