Posted on 06/05/2018 6:20:11 PM PDT by Theoria
Aging population is boosting the costs of Social Security and Medicare as growth projections ease
The Social Security program’s costs will exceed its income this year for the first time since 1982, forcing the program to dip into its nearly $3 trillion trust fund to cover benefits.
This is three years sooner than expected a year ago, partly due to lower economic growth projections, according to the latest annual report the trustees of Social Security and Medicare released Tuesday. The program’s income comes from tax revenue and interest from its trust fund.
The trust fund will be depleted in 2034 and Social Security will no longer be able to pay its full scheduled benefits unless Congress takes action to shore up the program’s finances. Without any changes, recipients then would receive only about three-quarters of their scheduled benefits from incoming tax revenues.
The report also said that Medicare’s hospital insurance fund would be depleted in 2026, three years earlier than anticipated in last year’s report. Absent changes, the program then would be able to handle 91% of costs.
The nation’s aging population is boosting the costs of Social Security and Medicare, while revenue gains lag due to slower growth in the economy and the labor force.
About 61.5 million people receive retirement or disability benefits from Social Security and 58.4 million receive Medicare.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
My two closest Childhood Friends both died at age 61.
They paid in hundreds of thousands of dollars and poof, it’s gone.
What a system...
[[This is three years sooner than expected a year ago, partly due to lower economic growth projections,]]
Well we’ve got higher growth now (I’m assuming they mean jobs growth? ) so now things should go back the other way, right?
And I’m sorry- but our country can find many hundreds of billions of dollars to send to terrorist nations, rogue nations, and nations trying to build nuclear bombs- but can’t find money to help OUR nation’s neediest people like seniors, disabled and disabled veterans? Can’t find money to put it to work earning to grow the SS fund kitty?
p
LBJ did break into the SSA lock box, but it was to pay for his “Great Society”, not the VN war. The money went into the General Fund.
” Social Security program’s costs will exceed its income this year.”
Sad, but true. Anti-Christian and anti-American losers have promoted smaller families and failed to see how their retirement depends on larger families. Yes, anti-Christian and anti-American losers are slow.
we need to get more people on disability...
SS pensions are such a pittance compared to your average govt worker.....but nobody says anything about that....
Social Security... turning “conservatives” into full-throated Communists since 1935.
By 2034 most of us Baby Boomers will be gone. 1946-1965.
It was $716 billion that Obama took from Medicare. :-(
Bump.
There is no “Trust Fund.” only as book entry. Those funds were stolen LONG AGO.
How come welfare recipients never have to worry about cut back in ‘benefits’?
Okay, thanks. You believe your folks first.
Thanks for that info.
This entire story is a lie. There is no “social security trust fund”. Never have been. It’s all “invested” in treasury bonds. That means it’s just another debt that the U.S. taxpayer is going to have to pay. Y’all hang on to your wallets folks! The government is going to want it all!
Trust fund full of US bonds.
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