Projecting the future of the biggest federal healthcare program became much more difficult because of the impact on treatment patterns by the CCP virus, according to the 2021 Annual Report of the Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund and the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI)Trust Fund. The 273-page report was released Tuesday as the nation’s attention was focused on the completed withdrawal of all U.S. military forces from Afghanistan after 20 years of war in that long-troubled Central Asian country. But the report is likely to get more attention in the days ahead as officials in Washington and in the 50 state capitals realize the implications of the trustees’ analysis. Perhaps most significantly, the 2021 report did not deviate from the previous year’s projection that the Medicare Trust Fund will be unable fully to fund benefits by 2026. That is the year the cost of …