The Hill News

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs tweeted Thursday that March's healthcare overhaul will extend the life of the Medicare hospital insurance fund, which was previously expected to expire in 2017.

He said: 

BIG NEWS from AP: health care reform will extend the life of Medicare trust fund by 12 years

Officials say that the extension will come from savings instated by the reform, but warn that it will depend on consistent healthcare savings over the next decade. 

The extension was revealed in an annual report issued by the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. 

On Social Security, it said that the program's trust fund will expire in 2037, which is consistent with last year's prediction. It also said that the program will likely begin to pay out more than it receives, starting this year.