Medicare Insolvency Delay (but Not the Solution) Due to COVID-19 Deaths

Abstract

Bernard F. Pettingill Jr. and Federico R. Tewes

Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provide proof that COVID-19 deaths affected nearly 80 percent of seniors age 65 and older in the first quarter of 2020 and continuing today, despite the fact that the sample size was limited to 52,166 people. As of January 20, 2022, over 75.8 percent of total COVID-19 deaths in the United States have been among seniors 65 and older, whilst this age group accounts for only 16.5 percent of the total United States population. Millennial successors to the Baby Boomers, namely those ages 18 to 39, represent some 29.9 percent of the United States population but only 2.6 percent of COVID-19 deaths. This is not a theory; the CDC data fully acknowledges this high percentage of deaths among senior citizens in the United States.

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