The top four Democratic presidential candidates may be split on health care reform, two favor the public option and two favor Medicare for All. But, Nancy Altman writes in Forbes that all four top candidates, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, support strengthening and expanding Social Security. No matter who becomes the Democratic candidate, if you support expanding Social Security, it will be critical to vote.
Social Security is a national treasure that virtually all Democratic members of Congress support expanding. In fact, nine out of ten members of the House of Representatives support Congressman John Larson’s Social Security 2100 Act. If enacted, Social Security benefits would rise, and its Trust Fund would be strong for many many decades.
Increasing Social Security benefits would help older Americans in retirement. Today, a large portion of older adults struggle to afford their basic needs. Few people can rely on pensions or retirement savings. Many rely almost exclusively or heavily on Social Security for their income. Social Security income is guaranteed and cost-effective, unlike Wall Street stock investments and 401(k) plans.
- Social Security benefits will rise 1.6 percent in 2020
- Congresswoman Jayapal introduces Medicare for All bill
- Expand Social Security, don’t means test it
- Don’t count on 401(k) annuity investments for retirement security
- How Biden, Sanders and Warren’s plans to strengthen Social Security compare
…the Dems haven’t always been the good guys either. Mr. Clinton, and Mr. Obama both considered cuts to Social Security. Mrs. Clinton waffled for months on the idea as well before fily committing herself to protecting SS after Mr. Sanders made that one of his major points in the 2016 primaries. Mr Biden even promoted cuts to Social security via support for raising the retirement age, what was called an SS “Tax Holiday” (which cost the programme 112$ billion in revenue, and means testing.
We need to hold their feet to the fire to not only protect Social Security but find ways to expand benefits raise the minimum income limit so recipients are not forced to live in poverty (particularly for those on who have difficulty working or are unable to work to supplement their benefits), eliminate the cap, increase base benefits, and institute living cost adjustment that keep pace with inflation and are based on the actual costs senior and disabled (which includes using housing and medication costs (both of which are rising faster than people can keep up with, as part of the equation).
Some cuts did occur during the previous administration, mainly staff and administrative ones, which have made getting information or appealing decisions (in the case of SSDI claims) a longer more time consuming process due to the department being understaffed. It is not unusual to be placed on hold 45 min or longer before talking to someone on the telephone and people often wait the better part of a day at the local SS office to see worker in person (even with an appointment). This is not a good situation considering my generation is reaching retirement age.