On the recordSeptember 14, 1995
I think it is worth explaining why specifically this trust fund or why specifically whether or not the budget was balanced today does not affect this, and I think it is fairly easy to understand once you understand where the money comes from that goes into this trust fund because the only money that goes into the Medicare trust fund is from the payroll tax, the 1.45 percent times two, 2.9 percent, because it is matched payroll tax that is due--I am sorry, the 1.4-percent tax that is paid by each person with earned income in the United States. And that money goes directly into this trust fund. The Federal Government is precluded, is forbidden, from using any other Federal funds to pay for the payments that are made by the Health Care Financing Administration [HCFA] to pay for medical services. They must use the Medicare trust fund for those services. They cannot use the general fund of the United States.
Source
govinfo.gov
