The financial lifelines of Social Security and Medicare are approaching insolvency, with the latest report from the Social Security Board of Trustees warning that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will be depleted by 2033. At that point, only 77% of scheduled retirement benefits would be payable, leaving millions of retirees facing sharply reduced checks unless Congress intervenes.
The combined Social Security trust funds—which include both retirement and disability insurance—are now projected to run out by 2034, a year sooner than previously forecast, according to a report from NBC News. While the Disability Insurance Trust Fund remains solvent through at least 2099, federal law prohibits merging the funds, though lawmakers have reallocated resources between them in the past to avoid shortfalls.
The crisis extends to Medicare. Its Hospital Insurance trust fund, which finances Medicare Part A, is now forecast to run dry in 2033—three years earlier than last year’s projection. After that, only 89% of hospital-related benefits could be paid out, raising alarms as healthcare costs and enrollments rise sharply with the aging population.
The report, which incorporates expected costs from the Social Security Fairness Act taking effect in 2025, does not yet factor in the potential fiscal impact of new tax hikes, tariffs, or immigration policy shifts, any of which could either strain or bolster program revenues.
Roughly 70 million Americans will receive Social Security benefits this year, and 185 million workers are contributing through payroll taxes. Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano, speaking on behalf of the Trump administration, called on Congress to act decisively to preserve the program’s integrity for both current and future retirees.
Lawmakers now face a politically fraught set of choices: raise taxes, cut benefits, or pursue a combination of both. A recent survey by the National Academy of Social Insurance and AARP found that 85% of Americans prefer increasing payroll tax revenue over reducing benefits. Some of the more popular proposals include lifting the earnings cap—currently $176,100—so wages above $400,000 are also taxed for Social Security, and gradually raising the payroll tax rate from 6.2% to 7.2% for both employees and employers.
Meanwhile, Medicare’s financial problems are rooted less in demographic shifts and more in rising healthcare costs. Though Part B and Part D are funded differently, Part A relies heavily on payroll taxes, and its insolvency could trigger reduced hospital reimbursements or force new taxes—both politically volatile solutions.
Liberals have attacked Republicans trying to reform these programs for years. In 2012, for example, Paul Ryan was depicted as wanting to “throw grandma off a cliff” for trying to solve the problems the country faces today. What remains constant across both programs is time—or the lack of it. As the depletion dates draw nearer, the costs of delay grow steeper. If Congress fails to act soon, the burden will fall hardest on those with the least time to adjust, and the promise of a secure retirement will become just another broken commitment in the nation’s growing ledger of fiscal irresponsibility.
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Some of us know that if the thieving democRATs who ‘borrowed’ a big chunk of the SS Trust Fund to finance their pet social welfare projects had actually paid it back like they promised, that fund would likely be solvent for decades longer than is currently being projected. But since that happened back almost 50 years ago too many think it is ancient history and doesn’t affect them.
Granted, almost everything costs way more now yet there are still folks who don’t think a minimal amount of inflation really skews things. Ya can’t make up that level of disconnect.
May end after 8 years??
CUT DC bureaucracy.
Take illegals off Medicare & Medicaid.
Use DOGE abuse funds to fund CMS