Experts are warning that American seniors are at risk of a 23 percent cut to their benefits if the Retirement Age is raised to 70. This comes following calls to reform the Social Security by lawmakers.
Due to this, the Full Retirement Age for someone to claim the most on offer from Social Security should be around 70.
The last time the Retirement Age was changed was back in 1983 through the Social Security Amendments.
This raised the threshold for claiming full benefits from the original age of 65 to the current FRA of 67.
While Republican lawmakers have strongly rejected the idea of raising the Retirement Age to 70, former indicted President Donald Trump has claimed that some members of his party want to “raise the minimum age of Social Security to 70, 75 or even 80 in some cases”.
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Walter Gottlieb, the director of communications of the NCPPSM, said this move would be dangerous for millions of Americans.
He explained: “Conservative backers of this idea insist that life expectancy has increased and people are able to continue working and earning income well into their 60s, so no harm, no foul.
“Except that neither is really true. Life expectancy for many demographic groups has actually decreased in the past few years, especially for communities of color.
“Secondly, Americans in physically demanding jobs may not be able to continue working until age 70. They would have no choice but to claim benefits early and lose sorely-needed income.”
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A bipartisan group of Senators have asserted changes need to be made to the Social Security system, which some experts believe is at risk of insolvency.
However, the NCPPSM has rebuked this claim and has put forward that policymakers are confusing seniors’ earned benefits with the federal debt issue.
Social Security payments and Medicare Part A are completely self-funded by American workers and are considered a crucial lifeline for many.
Politicians advocating for perceived benefit cuts are being called to consider other alternatives to help fund Social Security.
Mr Gottlieb added: “According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the number one driver of the debt is tax breaks.
“But Republicans ignore the $2trillion [around £1.6trillion] that the Trump/GOP tax cuts added to the debt.
“Instead of calling for repeal of those tax cuts, the GOP wants to make them permanent.
“This is a dubious set of priorities at a time when the wealthy and profitable corporations are by and large thriving, while some seniors — racked by the pandemic and high inflation — are barely surviving.”
