While Congress was on Memorial Day recess last week the annual Social Security Trustee Report was released. It announced that the financial health of Social Security improved slightly over the past year.
The report projects that the program’s combined reserves will be depleted by 2035, one year later than was projected last August. A key Medicare fund also had an improved outlook, with a two-year solvency extension.
Of the two components that comprise Social Security, the retirement program is projected to be able to pay full benefits on a timely basis until 2034, a year longer than the last report. Unless Congress acts to shore up the retirement trust fund, seniors would then receive 75-80% of their Social Security payments if the trust fund should run out of funds in 2035.
That, of course, is not acceptable to TSCL because so many seniors are struggling even with the Social Security payments they receive today.
The second component, the disability insurance trust fund, continues to be on surer footing. The 2020 analysis projected it to run out in 2049, before being bumped up to 2057 in the report issued in 2021. Thursday’s report states that the fund is expected to be able to meet its financial obligations beyond the 75-year projection window — a first since the early 1980s, according to administration officials.
In addition, it was announced that the fund that covers hospital care through Medicare, better known as Part A, is projected to remain solvent until 2028. The program’s previous insolvency projection was 2026.
