Social Security

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Democrats Say Musk Showed Social Security Is a Target

Billionaire calls safety net program a 'Ponzi scheme'

(Newser) - The world's richest man has called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme," drawing outrage from Democrats while possibly undercutting his boss. "There are fewer babies being born," Elon Musk told Joe Rogan on his podcast Friday, "and you have more people who are retired that...

Millions of Dead People Aren't Getting Social Security Checks

Trump, Musk have claimed otherwise

(Newser) - The Trump administration is falsely claiming that tens of millions of dead people over 100 years old are receiving Social Security payments, the AP reports. Over the past few days, President Trump and Elon Musk have said on social media and in press briefings that people who are 100, 200,...

Top Social Security Official Out After DOGE Tries to Access Data

Advocate says her replacement has reportedly already granted the access, however

(Newser) - Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency tried to access sensitive information at the Social Security Administration over the weekend, and Acting Commissioner Michelle King refused to grant it—and then stepped down from her position, multiple sources tell outlets including the Washington Post and the AP . A Trump administration...

US Recovers $31M It Paid to Dead People

In the form of Social Security payments

(Newser) - The US government clawed back more than $31 million in Social Security payments that improperly went to dead people, a recovery that one official said Wednesday was "just the tip of the iceberg." The money was reclaimed as part of a five-month pilot program after Congress gave the...

2.5M Americans to Get a Catch-Up Social Security Check

President Biden on Sunday signed the Social Security Fairness Act

(Newser) - President Biden on Sunday gave a financial boost to more than 2.5 million retired Americans—former teachers, firefighters, and police officers among them. CNBC reports he signed the Social Security Fairness Act, a piece of bipartisan legislation that repealed a pair of decades-old provisions that impacted public employees who...

Late Vote Gives Public Workers Full Social Security Benefits

Almost 3 million retirees are receiving reduced amounts

(Newser) - Bipartisan legislation to provide full Social Security benefits to almost 3 million public-sector retirees cleared the Senate early Saturday, 76-20, and was sent to President Biden. The group that includes teachers, firefighters, and police officers now receives reduced benefits, the New York Times reports. The measure approved just before Congress...

Social Security Recipients Getting a Smaller Raise

Checks going up 2.5%, which amounts to about $50 a month for the average retiree

(Newser) - Social Security recipients who might have been used to getting bigger-than-usual increases in recent years will have to make do with a smaller bump in 2025. The Social Security Administration said Thursday that the checks are going up 2.5% at the start of the year, reports CNBC .
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Seniors Will Likely See Lowest COLA Since 2021

Cost of Living Allowance is expected to rise by 2.5%, while Medicare Part B is rising 5.9%

(Newser) - Inflation may be cooling , but so is the annual Social Security Cost of Living Allowance doled out to some 68 million American seniors. As NBC News reports, it looks like the 2025 COLA may be the most meager since 2021, even as older Americans still face rising costs. The...

Outlook Brightens Slightly for Social Security, Medicare

Programs still will run out of cash in just over a decade unless Congress does something

(Newser) - Social Security and Medicare will be able to pay benefits for slightly longer than projected a year ago, their trustees reported Monday, but the programs will still run short of money in a decade or so. As it stands, the trusts that pay for Social Security benefits will be drained...

'Peak Boomers' May Have a Retirement Problem

Analysis suggests two-thirds of those turning 65 don't have enough savings

(Newser) - With the "silver tsunami" upon us, more boomers will turn 65 this year than in any other time in history in the US. But most won't be able to retire comfortably at the start of their golden years, according to CBS News , with two-thirds unlikely to have the...

Next Year's Social Security Raise Is More Modest

Recipients can expect a 3.2% boost starting in January

(Newser) - Millions of Social Security recipients will get a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, far less than this year's historic boost. The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, means the average recipient will receive more money every month beginning in January, the Social Security Administration said Thursday. About 71...

Woman Has Struggled to Prove She's Not Dead for 16 Years

A 2007 error by the Social Security Administration upended a Missouri woman's life

(Newser) - A Missouri woman mistakenly added to the Social Security Administration's master death list in 2007 has been trying to prove she's very much alive for the past 16 years. Per NBC News , Madeline-Michelle Carthen, now 52, first found out about the accounting error when she was a business...

Inflation Bumps Social Security Raise Slightly

Forecast rises to 3.2% for next year, which advocates say isn't enough

(Newser) - On paper, Social Security recipients saw their monthly payment for next year increase 3.2% on Wednesday, because inflation rose slightly more than it had been. The Senior Citizens League adjusted its 2024 cost-of-living projection from 3% for 2024, NBC News reports. That would translate to a monthly jump of...

Man, 86, Assumed Identity of Brother Who Died in 1939

Napoleon Gonzalez obtained Social Security benefits under both names

(Newser) - An 86-year-old Maine man accused of assuming his brother's identity decades ago and using it to double dip on Social Security benefits has been convicted of several charges, caught by facial recognition technology that matched the same face to two different identities, authorities say. Napoleon Gonzalez of Etna assumed...

After Mom Died, California Man Collected Her Benefits for 32 Years

65-year-old man pleaded guilty to hiding her death to collect $830K in public funds

(Newser) - A California man pleaded guilty to fraudulently collecting his dead mother's benefits for 32 years after her death, in what a prosecutor says "is believed to be the longest running and largest fraud of its kind in this district." Donald Felix Zampach of Poway in southern California...

Inflation Has Cooled. So Has This Social Security Estimate

Recipients may see 2024 cost-of-living adjustment of just 2.7%, down from this year's 8.7%

(Newser) - This year's Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, was the highest in four decades, coming in at 8.7% to account for record inflation. Beneficiaries shouldn't expect quite such a boost for 2024. According to new government data, the annual inflation rate fell in May to its lowest...

Under Pressure, Scott Removes Social Security From Sunset Plan

Both parties had attacked the idea of having to revote on programs every five years

(Newser) - After it received bipartisan criticism and was called out during the president's State of the Union address, the proposal by Sen. Rick Scott to put all federal programs on a five-year limit has been changed. The Republican's "Rescue America" plan now lists the "specific exceptions of...

White House Social Security Tweet Doesn't Land Well

It's deleted after giving Biden credit for increase made necessary by inflation

(Newser) - The White House has deleted a tweet about Social Security after coming under all kinds of ridicule. As NBC News reports, the original tweet boasted that seniors received the biggest increase in payments in a decade thanks to "President Biden's leadership." But as many on Twitter were...

Social Security's COLA Increase Is the Biggest in 40 Years

It's 8.7% for 2023, but some say that's not enough to keep up with seniors' reality

(Newser) - The Social Security Administration just announced the biggest cost of living adjustment in four decades in response to record high inflation. The annual inflation adjustment for 2023 is 8.7%, compared to 5.9% for 2022, meaning the country's 70 million Social Security beneficiaries will see a monthly increase...

Social Security Checks Will Likely Get a Very Big Bump

Senior Citizens League now forecasts 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment

(Newser) - Update: When we last read the tea leaves in May, it was looking like seniors could be looking at an 8.6% adjustment to their monthly Social Security checks in 2023. The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) happens in October, and with just one month to go, the predicted increase has ticked...

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