How will Social Security be modified?

When SS was first established, life expectancy was 62. Today, life expectancy is anticipated to be 79.25 at the end of 2024, according to ChatGPT. In spite of living longer, the age of full eligibility has only increased to 67.

A reasonable step is to phase in an increase of age of full eligibility to 69 while keeping early eligibility at 62. The savings would be significant. Actuarial tables show this would reduce the average payout from about 16 years to 14 years, but the real savings would be significantly more because about 23% start early SS at age 62 and 73% take early SS before age 67. Starting SS helps those who need the money, but it reduces lifetime SS payout.

This wouldn't totally fix SS, but it would reduce the federal government payout by... ballpark guess... 25% - 30%.

The real problem is not SS; it's Medicare. Not only are seniors living longer, obesity is greatly increasing lifetime Medicare payouts. Ten years ago when I researched this topic, I found that Medicare paid over 60% more annually for obese seniors than for those who were not overweight. As medical advances help the obese live longer, those lifetime Medicare payouts will increase even more. I suspect that it's probably close to 75% more already.

Edit: Haven't found current data yet, but this was interesting. Medicare Part D spending for a single drug... Ozempic... is increasing by over $1 billion/year! Big Pharma is lobbying to make Ozempic eligible for basic Medicare, which would increase the bill for Ozempic by over a trillion dollars/year.

This exactly the type of deeply thought out solutions we can expect from Trump appointees.

Do actuarial tables factor in that younger adults will likely make up the shortfall if their parents are unable to work until 69?

Social security doesn't just help older people, it's helps working age people too because they don't need to financially support their parents as well as themselves and their children.

On one hand, I understand where you’re coming from. On the other, you just said we should get rid of the whole program. So you feel qualified to decide who needs it but nobody in the whole government is.

Raise the cap on earnings subject to Soc Sec tax to unlimited

Let's make people work until they are just too old to do so.

Pension Plans have gone away and so let's raise the age people can get full Soc Sec benefits.

Wonderful idea.

You haven't made the proper leap yet because you suffer from a failure of imagination. The entire idea is that for all but the top 1%, all are expected to work as wage slaves and then drop dead the minute they're no longer useful to the rich.

So much worry about actuarial tables and whatnot which fails to understand the real future, which is that most all people will scrape by the keep a roof over their heads and meager food on the table. People will freeze and starve to death because of rampant homelessness. No safety nets or social programs, coupled with a medical system that only serves the richest, means life expectancy will plummet.

The richest will not miss a beat while others die in a ditch. This is our future, not even taking into account climate effects. THIS is what was voted into power, a power that will never be relinquished by evil now rising.

If you mean the very wealthy should not be eligible, I agree. I also think the wage limit for contributions should go up. I believe the current maximum is only for the first $250-500K. That is far too low to keep is afloat.

That sounds like communist talk or shades of 1984/The trial. The wealthy will inherit the earth, slavery will return as well to make it work. The evil is in your mind - it can all be justified by the Christian nationalist interpretation of the Bible. God meant for the wealthy to rule over the poor, certainly better than Monarchies, but Oligarchies function much the same. When the public is gullible (see Germany in the 1930's) anything is possible. But this is how the world is and should work. Musk as the first Trillionaire will take over when Trump is gone - just a form of manifest destiny. Democracy doesn't work, Oligarchy is the best form of political control.

This is the first time Ive heard this idea, and it makes sense in the SS vacuum . The crazy part is why has no democrat has ever articulated this point in an interview when talking about immigration? It would be a valid reason on the surface, prolly falls apart after you fully weigh the pro's and con's though.

Those who refuse to procreate should not be complaining. It’s a pretty simple money in, money out proposition, and, yes, the age needs increased. people live longer. And, yes, the benefit needs cut. It’s simple math. What is your solution? To increase income taxes on the young to disproportionately so that older generations who created the problem can enjoy a longer retirement while you still end up with none down the road?

When Biden had full control of government his first two years he did absolutely nothing other than some BS equity order. He virtue signaled a bit in 2024 when congress was split, but did nothing for the program. Heck, the only thing Obama did during his eight years was cut what people were paying into social security for a year. Trump in his second term (since he does not need to worry about reelection) actually has the ability to make the long overdue changes that the program needs to survive. He was elected to make the tough decisions.

It will immediately cut 50% from the program with no thought whatsoever.

The alternative was 10,000 times worse.

That’s the double edged sword of Medicare: everybody wants it to cover expensive treatments that make people live longer. So, not only do people drag down the system longer, but the cost to treat them increases. Medicare should provide a baseline standard of care (you get old generic drugs that work almost as well as the proprietary high dollar drugs they try to sell you). After you hit 80, you don’t get surgeries, chemo, etc. If you want the high dollar drug and treatment coverage, you should have to pay for a supplement. Care is necessary, high dollar treatments in a fruitless quest for immortality are not. 51% of Medicare spending is surgeries. When these programs were first established, people with bad knees would limp until they died. Now taxpayers give them an implant that 20% of them regret.

If people like you hadn't voted for Trump/Republicans, this commonsense idea might actually be viable! But now it's just an absurd fantasy. Republicans want to gut social security, not raise taxes on higher earners to ensure the program remains solvent.

Do the idiots at Heritage understand averages and the variety of health and death outcomes this country has? I know some lucky or rich folks are living forever but also plenty of poor people are having career ending strokes and heart attacks in their 50s.

What's worse, is these are the "let people eat/smoke/drink whatever" folks. As though that extends rather than shortens their own number.

So, duh, maybe don't assume old people will be able to work until age 70. For everyone.

Likewise, the idea is when you're past working maybe don't have to be eating dog food to survive. This was done after the Great Depression. And yet we keep trying to go back to retire-on-your-own or retire-by-stock-casino. They're pretending people get to control when they retire and what they have. While fighting minimum wage laws.

Parody?

Or an imbecile?

Difficult to tell

side point but i wonder if trump voters get the irony of being anti-immigrant then watching elon (migrant) and vivek (child of migrants) decide their retirement fate and other government efficiencies.

Biden had full power to enact such a measure from 2020-2022. He did not.