Social Security cash to run low in 2033, earlier than expected
Seniors and workers against cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid potentially proposed by the Joint Deficit Reduction Committee, or “Super Committee”, applaud personal testimony from Social Security recipients during a Capitol Hill rally with November 17, 2011 in Washington, DC.
The pile of money the US uses to pay Social Security benefits to retirees and disabled people will run low earlier than expected, the trustees for those accounts said today.
Combined, the Social Security trust funds are expected to exhaust reserves in 2033 instead of 2036 as the trustees had predicted last year.
The funds won't go broke but they would no longer have enough money to pay all of the benefits promised to American citizens. Instead, they'd be able to cover only 75 percent of the benefits promised to citizens.
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Social Security already is paying out more in benefits than it takes in from taxes, CNNMoney said, and the Wall Street Journal points out the number of people receiving retirement benefits in the US is climbing. That figure is expected to continue rising as the US population ages.
The government's Medicare program also isn't doing so well, according to the Associated Press. Medicare's hospital insurance fund is expected to run low on funds in 2024, just over a decade from now.
A 2 percent benefit cut kept that date from advancing, AP said.
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