By Dave Pulver:
The increase to be announced Thursday will be the biggest increase to Social Security in the last 40 years. Â This increase is expected to counteract the growing inflation that is causing seniors difficulty in covering the increased cost of home heating energy and the price they pay for groceries. The boost will be coupled with a 3% drop in Medicare premiums.
Coincidentally, the Social Security boost announcement comes a few weeks before the mid-term elections.
Conversely, The Medicare trustees report released in June says the program’s trust fund will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035.
The report said that if the trust fund is depleted, the government will be able to pay only 80% of scheduled benefits. Medicare will be able to pay 90% of the total scheduled benefits if the fund is depleted.
Social Security was the brainchild of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was set up in the 1930s.
Read the full article at AP News.
Bio: Dave Pulver is a staff writer at NFN. A retired communications engineer of 35 years, his interests include technology, history, civics, and politics.