JustCare

Category: Social Security

  • Social Security benefits need to increase

    Social Security benefits need to increase

    Michael Sainato reports for The Guardian on Social Security’s failure to provide many retired Americans a livable income. Consequently, millions of people in their 70’s are still working in order to cover the cost of basic necessities, if they can find a job. At the same time, people with long-term disabilities are struggling to get Social Security benefits, reports Nancy Altman in The Hill.

    Millions of Americans receive Social Security benefits of less than $10,000 a year. The average benefit is little more than $18,000 a year. These benefits represent all or most of people’s annual income; it is too often not enough to survive.

    What’s equally troubling is that many older adults between the ages of 50 and 64 lost their jobs during the pandemic. Most of them relied on those jobs for their health insurance. And, many of them have not been able to find new jobs, likely in part because their health insurance costs are so high.

    It’s time for Congress to increase Social Security benefits, which have not kept up with inflation over the years. If you consider Social Security benefits as a portion of people’s earnings before retirement, benefits in the US are not as high as they are in other wealthy nations. Moreover, in the US, these benefits can be taxed and they generally go towards the cost of people’s Medicare Part B premiums.

    It’s also time for Congress to ensure that the Social Security Administration is granting disability benefits to the people who qualify for them in a timely fashion. President Biden has not ousted Trump’s SSA appointee, Commissioner Andrew Saul. Saul has made a point of denying people Social Security benefits to people who are entitled to them in the name of “program integrity.” Rather than ensuring that people who have earned their Social Security benefits receive them, SSA is making people with serious disabilities prove repeatedly that they cannot work.

    Because Social Security benefits are often not meeting people’s needs, some Americans are moving to Mexico in retirement; it costs much less to live there.

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  • Trump appointees hold up stimulus checks to 30 million people on Social Security

    Trump appointees hold up stimulus checks to 30 million people on Social Security

    Why the delay in getting people on Social Security their stimulus checks? The American Rescue Plan passed Congress a couple of weeks ago, and President Biden signed it into law on March 11, the day after its passage. But, the Washington Post reports that the Social Security Administration, run by Trump appointees, delayed getting the necessary information to the IRS.

    People receiving Social Security benefits get their Economic Impact Payments (stimulus check) automatically. And, the Treasury Department and IRS began sending out payments the day after Biden signed the legislation, more than two weeks ago. But, nearly 30 million people receiving Social Security benefits did not get their stimulus checks in a timely fashion.

    Economic impact payments went out to people who have filed tax returns in 2019 or 2020.  People who registered last year through the Non-Filers tool are also getting payments if they’re eligible. But, payments were delayed for Social Security recipients who had not filed tax returns in the last two years. As Alex Lawson explains in Common Dreams, the IRS requested the necessary information from the Social Security Administration long before the American Rescue Act was signed into law, but it held off sending the IRS updated information.

    The problem appears to lie with Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul. He delayed turning over payment information to the IRS that it needs to send the checks. It literally took Congressional action to light a fire under Saul and get him to send the data to the IRS.

    People getting direct deposit of their Social Security checks should also receive a direct deposit of their stimulus checks. Most people are getting $1,400 checks. By now, you should have received this payment. If not, you can check irs.gov to see the status of the payment.

    Trump’s Social Security appointments, Commissioner Saul and Deputy Commissioner Black, should not remain in power. Their delay in providing the IRS with necessary information to get people their stimulus checks, combined with their work to jeopardize eligibility for Social Security benefits for people with disabilities and other efforts to undermine Social Security and President Biden’s agenda, should give President Biden good cause to remove them from their positions.

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  • Raising the minimum wage helps workers and Social Security

    Raising the minimum wage helps workers and Social Security

    The minimum wage has not been adjusted appropriately for inflation over the last several decades, while core expenses such as housing and health care have increased significantly. As a result, minimum wage workers do not make a living wage. Social Security Works just issued a report that explains why increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour provides greater economic security to workers and their families both today and over the long-term in the form of higher Social Security benefits.

    The report finds that a $15 minimum wage will increase Social Security benefits for workers by as much as $5,000 a year. At the current minimum wage, Social Security monthly benefits are $979.80 for people at their full retirement age and $685.80 if they retire at 62.

    At a $15 an hour minimum wage, the monthly benefit would be $1,409.60. Each additional dollar in wages increases a worker’s Social Security benefits. Today, 1.7 million workers earn the $7.25 an hour minimum wage, and tens of millions of additional workers earn less than $15 an hour.

    The Economic Policy Institute found that a $15 an hour minimum wage beginning in 2025 would help 32 million workers directly or indirectly. Collectively, they would earn an additional $107 billion a year. Additional Social Security contributions would total 6.2 percent of that $107 billion.

    And, there’s more. Once the minimum wage increases, overall wages across the nation also increase. Consequently, the Social Security Trust Fund benefits even more. In addition, retirement security improves with an increase in the minimum wage, helping retirees who too often do not have retirement savings or traditional pensions.

    Increasing the minimum wage also helps older workers, women and people of color. About one in six older workers are paid the minimum wage; one in four older adults rely on Social Security for most all of their income. Women represent 59 percent of the population benefiting from an increase in the minimum wage, although women make up 50 percent of the workforce. More than three in ten Black Americans would benefit from the increase, although they make up 13 percent of the workforce.

    About one in eight older adults live in poverty today. More than four in ten older adults have incomes under 200 percent of the Supplemental Poverty Measure. The numbers are projected to go up.

    In sum, increasing the minimum wage is a much-needed reform that voters overwhelmingly support and that would benefit a large swath of the population and their families. The House COVID-19 relief bill included this increase. However, because the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that increasing the minimum wage is not directly related to the budget and should not be part of a budget reconciliation bill, it is no longer in the Senate relief bill. The Senate has the power to ignore the Parliamentarian’s ruling or to replace the Parliamentarian. But, Majority Leader Schumer doesn’t have the desire, it appears. Nor does President Biden. What will it take for a Democratic Congress and president to increase the minimum wage?

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  • All Americans should contribute at the same rate to Social Security

    All Americans should contribute at the same rate to Social Security

    Today is “scrap the cap” day for Social Security contributions. The goal is for all Americans to contribute at the same rate to Social Security throughout the year. Instead, in 2021, a cap on Social Security contributions exempts the wealthiest Americans from paying into Social Security after they have earned $142,800.

    As of today, February 23, anyone who earns $1,000,000 this year gets to stop paying into Social Security. This not only keeps the Social Security Trust Fund from growing as much as it should, it also creates a regressive system. Everyone but the richest Americans must contribute 6.2 percent of their pay check to Social Security throughout the year.

    Make no mistake. Millionaires benefit from Social Security just like everyone else. Everyone who contributes to Social Security, their spouses and sometimes their children, are entitled to retirement, disability, and survivor benefits. And, each year, about 20 percent of Americans receive Social Security benefits.

    In 2021, the Social Security contribution amount is 6.2 percent of your income. But, if you earn more than $142,800, you effective contribution rate is far less than 6.2 percent. You make no contribution on any amount you earn above $142,800. For example, people who earn $1,000,000 or more contribute less than 1 percent of their income to Social Security.

    In a decade or so, the Social Security Trust Fund will be taking in less money than it is paying out. The biggest reason is rising income inequality. Back in 1983, Social Security contributions were collected on 90 percent of total income earned. In 2018, Social Security contributions were collected on just 83 percent of total income earned.

    More than half of older adults over 55 have no retirement savings. As fewer Americans earn pensions, millions of older adults rely exclusively on Social Security income in retirement. Social Security must remain strong and benefits must be improved to ensure older adults have the income to afford basic necessities and to keep them from falling into poverty.

    If Congress lifted the cap on contributions to Social Security so that everyone in the US paid in 6.2 percent of their income throughout the year, not only would it be more equitable, but the Social Security Trust Fund would have the funds it needed to expand benefits.

    The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) has a calculator that shows you when during the year people at different income levels stop paying into Social Security.

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  • Biden administration acts to ensure people with disabilities keep their Social Security benefits

    Biden administration acts to ensure people with disabilities keep their Social Security benefits

    The Trump administration worked hard to destroy Social Security every which way it could. Among other things, it made it extraordinarily difficult for people to get the Social Security benefits to which they are entitled. Now, Jake Johnson reports for Common Dreams, that the Biden administration has withdrawn a Trump administration not-yet-final regulation that would likely have taken disability benefits from hundreds of thousands of Americans.

    The Trump administration tried to subject people receiving Social Security long-term disability benefits to constant reviews if they wanted to retain these benefits. The additional reviews would have posed challenging administrative hurdles for people receiving benefits. As it is, qualifying for Social Security disability benefits is not easy.

    Social Security Works led the advocacy effort. According to its executive director, Alex Lawson, the proposed regulation was “the Trump administration’s most brazen attack on Social Security yet.” “When Ronald Reagan implemented a similar benefit cut, it ripped away the earned benefits of 200,000 people. Ultimately, Reagan was forced to reverse his attack on Social Security after massive public outcry—but not before people suffered and died.”

    President Joe Biden has a history of proposing Social Security cuts. And, he was criticized for his record on Social Security during the 2020 presidential campaign. He is now holding true to his word during the campaign that he would protect Social Security.

    President Biden also promised during the campaign to increase Social Security benefits, which are not as high as they should be. For a wealthy country, Social Security benefits in the US are stingy relative to other countries. To increase Social Security benefits, it would be particularly helpful for President Biden to fire the Social Security Administration Commissioner Andrew Saul and Deputy Commissioner David Black. Donald Trump is responsible for putting these high-level anti-Social Security officials in charge of Social Security.

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  • Will Congress support raising the cap on Social Security contributions in 2021?

    Will Congress support raising the cap on Social Security contributions in 2021?

    Teresa Ghilarducci explains in Forbes why we need to raise the cap on Social Security contributions. The Social Security cap means that the wealthiest Americans contribute only the tiniest fraction of their income–income representing less than a day of work–to the Social Security Trust Fund, while almost everyone else pays in throughout the year. President-elect Joe Biden supports raising the cap on Social Security. Will Congress?

    Contributions to the Social Security Trust Fund are supposed to represent 12.4 percent of income. Generally, workers pay half of that and employers pay the other half. Self-employed workers pay the full amount.

    But, there’s a limit to how much people must contribute. In 2021, the contribution is based on earned income up to $142,800. That’s a $5,100 increase from 2020. It should be more for wealthier people, as Congressman Larson and large numbers of Democrats in Congress are proposing in the Social Security 2100 Act.

    More than nine in ten workers, 94.6 percent–about 160 million people–pay into Social Security throughout the year. But, 5.4 percent, about nine million workers, earn above $142,800. They do not pay in to Social Security for the full year.

    Of the nine million people who earned above the Social Security cap, in 2019, 4,027 earned over $10 million. That works out to $2,397 every hour. These people will have paid into Social Security the full amount they owe on their first day of work.

    Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, earns more than $280 million annually, largely in stock options. Intel Corporation’s Robert Swan earned $66,935,100 in one year. But, they pay into Social Security as if their incomes were $142,800. Mr. Pichai and Mr. Swan look to the Social Security Administration as people who earn just $142,800 a year.

    The Social Security Trust Fund, unlike the Medicare Trust Fund, is in good shape for 12 more years. But, if Congress acted now to lift or remove the cap on Social Security payroll contributions, it would strengthen the Social Security Trust fund for many more years. It would enable Congress to expand Social Security benefits. Notably, there is no cap on Medicare Trust Fund contributions.

    Without additional Social Security contributions, it is projected that the number of older adults living in poverty will nearly double in 12 years. About nine percent of older adults will be living in poverty in 2033, up from 4.8 percent.

    Contributing more to Social Security should be of minimal consequence to the wealthiest Americans. As it is, Mr. Pichai gives way more to to charity each year than he would contribute to Social Security if Congress lifted the cap. More important, raising the Social Security cap would promote health and racial equity. It could also wipe out poverty among older Americans over the next 75 years.

    President-elect Biden supports raising the Social Security cap. With any luck, a majority in Congress will as well.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Biden administration should remove Trump’s Social Security Administration appointees

    Biden administration should remove Trump’s Social Security Administration appointees

    The Biden administration is going to have a lot of work to do in its initial days just in removing the Trump administration’s political appointees, among them those at the Social Security Administration. Joe Davidson writes in an opinion piece for The Washington Post that Social Security Works and other advocacy groups have a petition demanding that these Social Security Administration Trump appointees be removed, signed by nearly 230,000 people. The Association of Administrative Law Judges and National Council of SSA Field Operations Locals agree, saying they have “no confidence” in Commissioner Andrew Saul and Deputy Commissioner David Black.

    Social Security Works is also asking President-elect Joe Biden to remove Deputy Commissioner Mark Warshawsky. Social Security Works says that he is behind Social Security’s attack on people with disabilities. The current Social Security administration is conducting more eligibility reviews of people with disabilities that can lead to lower or no benefits. And, a proposed regulation calls for  reviewing eligibility at the “earliest point” to ensure people return to work as soon as possible.

    Biden has not agreed to removing Commissioner Saul. Even if he does, it might not be easy, although Social Security Works says that the Supreme Court gives the President the authority to do so. Trump appointed Saul for a six-year term ending 2025. It’s also possible that Saul might agree to resign.

    With Saul as Commissioner, Biden could face a challenge reversing the SSA final regulations as well as the ones that are still pending. It appears that the law requires the Commissioner to do so.

    According to Social Security Works, Trump’s appointees have closed Social Security field offices, reduced staffing and more to make it hard to get Social Security benefits. In addition, they have left people feeling unsure about Social Security’s future.

    President Obama appointed Carolyn Colvin to head the Social Security Administration. But, the Republican-led Senate would not confirm her appointment. Consequently, SSA has only been run by Senate-confirmed Democratic appointees in eight of the last 40 years.

    Saul and his Republican colleagues at SSA also want to put SSA lawyers in charge of hearing appeals from people with disabilities challenging the denials of their eligibility for benefits. Putting SSA lawyers in charge would prevent these appellants from having administrative law judges conduct independent reviews or from having judges with experience conduct reviews.

    Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works says: “Union busting and the demoralization of the SSA workforce is causing many employees to resign. This makes it difficult for SSA to provide beneficiaries with a high-quality level of service. The agency needs new leadership at the top who will work to strengthen the agency and make it a desirable place to work, instead of driving people away.”

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Social Security benefits will barely rise in 2021

    Social Security benefits will barely rise in 2021

    Social Security is the primary income of three out of five beneficiaries aged 55 and older. This vital institution is virtually the only income of a third of them. Our Social Security system lifts more than 21 million Americans—including over a million American children—out of poverty and lessens the depth of poverty of millions more.

    As essential as Social Security is in good economic times, it is even more so during the current pandemic and resulting economic collapse. Older adults and people with disabilities are most at risk from COVID-19. Eight out of ten COVID deaths in the United States have been people aged 65 or older. That’s over 175,000 deaths with that number sure to grow. Nursing home residents account for 40% of all COVID deaths—87,500 and growing.

    “The Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration has just announced that the automatic adjustment for 2021 will be only 1.3 percent, or an average of $20 a month. That would be inadequate in normal times, but these times are not normal.”

    Because Social Security beneficiaries are so at risk, their modest benefits—which average less than $1,400 a month—are stretched even thinner in the pandemic. They must keep distance from others. To do so requires incurring costs for deliveries of medicine and food, as well as incurring medical costs for those who become sick.

    One of Social Security’s most important features—not found in its private sector counterparts—is that all benefits are automatically adjusted every January to offset the effects of inflation. The Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration has just announced that the automatic adjustment for 2021 will be only 1.3 percent, or an average of $20 a month. That would be inadequate in normal times, but these times are not normal.

    Older adults, people with disabilities and all Social Security beneficiaries know that their costs have gone up more than 1.3 percent over the last year. They know that their prescription drug prices have gone up more than 1.3 percent. They know their out of pocket costs for doctors’ visits have gone up more than 1.3 percent. Indeed, the federal government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project that national health expenditures will increase an average 5.4 percent every year between 2019 and 2028.

    Ask older adults whether their costs went up more than 1.3 percent and you will get a resounding yes. The problem is that Social Security undermeasures the inflation they experience. That is because the cost of living adjustment for Social Security is based on inflation experienced by workers, not by retirees and people with disabilities who are unable to work.

    That index, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), was the only measure that the government produced in 1972, when Congress wisely decided to automatically adjust Social Security benefits every year to prevent their erosion. Because that measure was the only one available, that was the best Congress could do. It was better than nothing.

    But workers and indeed the general public have significantly different spending patterns from Social Security beneficiaries and, therefore, experience significantly lower inflation. Older adults and people with disabilities spend more on health care and long-term care—where prices continue to rise faster. They spend less on clothing, recreation, and other items—where prices tend to rise more slowly—than younger, healthier Americans.

    Many members of Congress recognized the obvious shortcomings of the CPI-W when applied to Social Security. In 1987, our policymakers instructed the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to produce an index measuring the cost of living of the elderly. In response, BLS developed the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), but Congress has not yet applied it to Social Security. It’s long past time to fix that.

    That is exactly what the Democrats propose to do if they win in November. CPI-E is part of Joe Biden’s plan to update and expand Social Security. It is included in the Social Security 2100 Act, authored by Representative John Larson (D-Conn.), Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee. Larson’s legislation is cosponsored by about 90 percent of his fellow Democrats. Indeed, every major Democratic bill to expand Social Security proposes to update the cost of living adjustment.

    In recognition of how modest Social Security’s benefits are by virtually any measure, Democrats will expand them if they win. To be clear, substituting the CPI-E for the current CPI-W is not a benefit increase, but an update. It is a better measure to ensure that benefits will not erode over time. It is designed to allow beneficiaries can tread water, instead of sinking, as they now are.

    An accurate adjustment is essential for everyone, but it is particularly important for women and Hispanics. The erosion of benefits from inadequate adjustments compounds over time and those two groups, on average, have the longest life expectancies.

    It should be a bipartisan effort, but so far only Democrats have embraced the update. No Republicans have either cosponsored one of the many pending bills or introduced their own. But if Democrats win, Republicans will have to decide whether to support the efforts to expand Social Security or stand in the way.

    Congress should also adopt the CPI-E for other federal programs for older adults and people with disabilities. These include military retirement benefits, veterans’ compensation, civil service retirement benefits and the Supplemental Security Income benefits, which also still use the CPI-W.

    I have written elsewhere that Donald Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress present a clear and present danger to Social Security. In contrast, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are squarely in favor of expanding Social Security and updating it to employ the CPI-E. This is the right policy. It also, according to numerous polls, represents the will of the people.

    After lifetimes of work, Americans have earned their Social Security. It is well past time they get a raise. Once Americans begin to receive their earned Social Security, they should be able to rely on the fact that those benefits will not erode as they age, but will maintain their purchasing power, even if they live to 100 or older. That is one concrete gain Americans will achieve if Democrats win this November.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • SSA actuary confirms Trump’s plan to terminate Social Security

    SSA actuary confirms Trump’s plan to terminate Social Security

    A couple of weeks ago, President Trump said that if he was reelected that he would end payroll contributions to Social Security, effectively promising to terminate Social Security, which we reported on August 12. If anyone had a doubt that Trump’s proposal would end Social Security, Jake Johnson reports for Common Dreams that the chief actuary for the Social Security Administration has now confirmed that the President’s proposal would end Social Security.

    In fact, Social Security’s chief actuary, Stephen Goss, said that it would take just three years to use up all the money in the Social Security Trust Funds. By 2023, without a payroll tax, both the disability and old-age trust funds would be void of money. There would be no way to pay Social Security benefits once those trust funds ran out of money.

    Goss wrote his findings in a letter responding to an inquiry from Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Senate Minority Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Goss said that the Social Security Disability Trust Fund would be out of money by the middle of 2021 and the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund would be out of money by the middle of 2023.  These trust funds would be left “with no ability to pay” benefits afterward.

    As Goss explains, there is no provision in the Social Security legislation that permits the trust funds to borrow funds in order to pay out benefits. The trust funds only have limited ability to get an advance of payroll tax income for one month.

    “The law does not provide authority for the trust funds to borrow in order to pay benefits beyond the limited authority for ‘advance tax transfers…This limited authority allows all payroll tax income expected for a month to be advanced to the beginning of that month if needed to meet benefit obligations on a timely basis. Thus… benefit obligations could not be met after the depletion of the asset reserves and elimination of payroll taxes.”

    Goss effectively corroborates the claims of Democrats and Social Security advocates that Donald Trump’s reelection would lead to the destruction of Social Security if he followed through with his plan to end its dedicated funding. Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, warned:

    “Trump has shown himself willing to undermine the post office, the free press, and other institutions. If he’s reelected, our Social Security system is his next target. Everyone should listen to Social Security’s independent chief actuary and alert your friends and family: If Donald Trump wins reelection, Social Security will be at his mercy.”

    Trump is serious about moving forward with ending Social Security if he is reelected. Donald Trump Jr., on the first night of the Republican National Convention, spoke about his dad’s attempt to end the payroll tax using his executive authority, which would be illegal.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Trump promises to terminate Social Security

    Trump promises to terminate Social Security

    In a press conference last week, President Donald Trump promised to terminate Social Security if he is reelected. While he never said that he was ending the program, he called for ending the payroll contributions that fund Social Security. Without these contributions, Social Security cannot pay benefits.

    Donald Trump once made promises about Social Security that either were extremely misleading or that he is now breaking. As Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works writes: “We now know that what he meant is that cutting Social Security doesn’t go far enough for him: He wants to destroy Social Security.”

    As it is, Donald Trump has issued an executive order, which will weaken Social Security, reducing the amount going into the Social Security Trust Funds. If implemented, that order would allow employers to put off transmitting their employees’ payroll contributions to Social Security. It would save nothing for people with jobs today, because their employers will simply hold onto the withheld funds until they are due. Allowing the postponement of payments to Social Security also will not help anyone who has lost his or her job.

    Paul Krugman explains it this way on Twitter: “payroll tax cuts are the hydroxychloroquine of economic policy. They won’t do anything to solve the employment crisis, but will have dangerous side effects. Yet, Trump remains obsessed with them as a cure.” You don’t help the fact that unemployment is high and employers have been forced to lay people off by temporarily deferring payroll contributions. It is what you do, though, if your goal is to undermine Social Security.

    Krugman further tweets that ending payroll contributions to Social Security and Medicare will: “undermine the finances of programs that are absolutely crucial to the lives of older Americans. If you measure the quality of policy ideas on a scale of 1 to 10, this is a minus 5 or worse.”

    Without Social Security’s dedicated revenue, retirees would not be able to depend on the retirement security Social Security offers, as the majority of them do today, many exclusively. With millions of older people losing their jobs prematurely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, these benefits are needed now more than ever. As it is, pension benefits on which many of our parents relied in retirement, are less and less available. And, 401k benefits, when people have them, tend to be small.

    If President Trump is reelected and succeeds at terminating Social Security funding, that will end Social Security as we know it. Americans would no longer be able to count on Social Security benefits in retirement. They would not be able to count on Social Security in the event of disability or in the event of the loss of a spouse or parent.

    Call your Representatives in Congress to ensure they oppose any plan to deplete the Social Security Trust Funds and leave Americans without Social Security benefits. Let them know that you expect them to speak out against terminating payroll contributions to Social Security. If they do not, assume they want to destroy Social Security. And, if you want Social Security to continue, be sure to vote for candidates who stand behind Social Security.

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