Trustees: Meager hike in Social Security benefits next year
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew arrived for a news conference at the Treasury Department in Washington, today, on the annual Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees report.
WASHINGTON » Millions of Social Security beneficiaries can expect only a meager increase in monthly payments next year, the trustees who oversee the massive retirement and disability program said today.
Meanwhile, Medicare’s finances have worsened since last year, according to the trustees’ annual report.
The projected 0.2 percent increase in Social Security payments would come a year after beneficiaries received no increase. By law, increases are based on a government measure of inflation, which has been low.
More than 60 million retirees, disabled workers, spouses and surviving children receive Social Security benefits. The average monthly payment is about $1,232, so the average increase would be a little less than $2.50, enough to buy a gallon of gasoline in most U.S. markets.
Social Security’s trust funds are projected to run dry in 2034, which is unchanged from a year ago. If that happens, Social Security would collect only enough in payroll taxes to pay 79 percent of benefits.
The trust fund that supports Medicare is now projected to run out of money in 2028 — two years earlier than projected last year.
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If that happens, Medicare’s fund for inpatient care would only be able to pay 87 percent of projected costs.
“Lawmakers should address these financial challenges as soon as possible,” the trustees say in their report. “Taking action sooner rather than later will permit consideration of a broader range of solutions and provide more time to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare.”
In more grim news, the trustees say that some Medicare beneficiaries will face sharply higher Part B premiums for outpatient care. By law, the premium increase for most Medicare recipients cannot exceed their increase in Social Security payments.
However, about 30 percent of Medicare recipients are exempt from that provision. They are mainly new recipients and those with higher incomes. The trustees project that their base monthly premiums will increase by about $27, to $149 a month. Upper-income recipients pay more.
More than 55 million people receive Medicare.
Social Security and Medicare are the two largest federal benefit programs. The trustees who oversee them are Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin. Two public trustee positions are vacant.
9 responses to “Trustees: Meager hike in Social Security benefits next year”
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Inflation is stagnant due sluggish economy which could only mean that household expenditures remain constant and reflect the lObama legacy. Yet Federal Reserve Board is contemplating raising the interest rates. Which in turn curbs inflation. Like caught between a rock and a hard place.
The slow growth is far better than the negative growth under Bush. But in the end, Obama has zero control over slow growth. Big structural changes are happening in the economy as all economists have noted.
Not sure what you mean. Bush presided over a healthy growing economy for 7 of his 8 years as President, when Wall Street, not Bush, blew it all up in 2008. Obama has presided over one of the most slow, stagnant, protracted recoveries ever during all his 8 years as President.
Woohoo! Now I can buy a gallon of gas every month!
…and how much are the medicare premiums going to go up?
0.2% for retirees, but the cost of living for food stamp allotment was close to 3%.
Retirees paid into the system.
Oh well, it could’ve been worse – no increase.
Oh come on, you guys are cheating us as everybody else gets significant increases.
Yeah, if you can even afford a car. If your disabled or poor, you don’t drive. Disabled people are more often then not poor, as they as kept down by the Feds.