Critter Corner: What Does the 2018 Medicare Trustees Report Say About Social Security?

Dear Magic,

I read that the 2018 Medicare Trustees Report was recently released. There have been some alarming headlines about the future of Medicare, but I haven’t seen anything about Social Security. Based on the findings in the report, what does the future look like for Social Security? 

Thanks,

Nada D. Pleated
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Dear Nada,

On the same day the 2018 Medicare Trustees Report was released, the Social Security Board of Trustees released it’s findings on the long-term financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds.

These were some of the findings:

– The combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds are projected to become depleted in 2034, the same as projected last year, with 79% of benefits payable at that time.

– The OASI Trust Fund is projected to become depleted in late 2034, as compared to last year’s estimate of early 2035, with 77% of benefits payable at that time.

– The DI Trust Fund will become depleted in 2032, extended from last year’s estimate of 2028, with 96% of benefits still payable.

In the 2018 Annual Report to Congress, the Trustees announced:

The asset reserves of the combined OASDI Trust Funds increased by $44 billion in 2017 to a total of $2.89 trillion.

The total annual cost of the program is projected to exceed total annual income in 2018 for the first time since 1982, and remain higher throughout the 75-year projection period. As a result, asset reserves are expected to decline during 2018. Social Security’s cost has exceeded its non-interest income since 2010.

The year when the combined trust fund reserves are projected to become depleted, if Congress does not act before then, is 2034 – the same as projected last year. At that time, there will be sufficient income coming in to pay 79 percent of scheduled benefits.

“The Trustees’ projected depletion date of the combined Social Security Trust Funds has not changed, and slightly more than three-fourths of benefits would still be payable after depletion,” said Nancy A. Berryhill, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “But the fact remains that Congress can keep Social Security strong by taking action to ensure the future of the program.”

Other highlights of the Trustees Report include:

• • Total income, including interest, to the combined OASDI Trust Funds amounted to $997 billion in 2017. ($874 billion from net payroll tax contributions, $38 billion from taxation of benefits, and $85 billion in interest)
  • Total expenditures from the combined OASDI Trust Funds amounted to more than $952 billion in 2017.
  • Social Security paid benefits of more than $941 billion in calendar year 2017. There were about 62 million beneficiaries at the end of the calendar year.
  • The projected actuarial deficit over the 75-year long-range period is 2.84% of taxable payroll – slightly larger than the 2.83% projected in last year’s report.
  • During 2017, an estimated 174 million people had earnings covered by Social Security and paid payroll taxes.
  • The cost of $6.5 billion to administer the Social Security program in 2017 was a very low 0.7% of total expenditures.
  • The combined Trust Fund asset reserves earned interest at an effective annual rate of 3% in 2017.

View the 2018 Trustees Report at www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2018/.

Hop this is helpful,

Magic