The United States’ published national debt does not include unfunded Medicare promises or unfunded Social Security benefits. In 2019, Medicare reached a new low at $34.9 trillion underfunded. Social Security is $48.7 trillion underfunded, declining almost $800 billion from the previous year. The published national debt is $23 trillion but when you included unfunded Medicare and Social Security the true national debt is $122 trillion.
There are currently 44 million Medicare beneficiaries, which is about 15 percent of the U.S. population. Enrollment is expected to rise to 79 million by 2030, trustees expect Medicare to run out of money in 2026. One in every six U.S. residents currently relies on Social Security, this is over 63 million people. For the past 35 years, there have been about 3.3 workers per beneficiary. After 2030, the ratio will be two workers per beneficiary. It is projected by trustees that by 2034 Social Security will be depleted. Our numbers show that Social Security and Medicare are already depleted as they are underfunded.
See the full chart here.