March 31, 2011
The Honorable Marco Rubio
B40a Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC, 20510
Dear Senator Rubio and Staff;
In an Op-Ed in the March 30 Wall Street Journal, you wrote, “No changes should be made to Medicare and Social Security for people who are currently in the system, like my mother. But people decades away from retirement, like me, must accept that reforms are necessary if we want Social Security and Medicare to exist at all by the time we are eligible for them.”
Protecting the benefits of people currently in these programs is commendable. However, the assertion that Social Security will not “…exist at all…” by the time you are eligible for it is simply wrong.
The Social Security trustees’ projections show that the program would face a shortfall beginning in 2037. If the projections prove accurate, and Congress never makes any changes to the program, then Social Security is projected to be able to pay almost 80 percent of scheduled benefits in subsequent years. This means that you would be able to anticipate a benefit of $30,484 in 2038 and subsequent years. In other words, the projections show that you can expect to get a substantial benefit from Social Security as long as you live.
As the discussion over Social Security continues, I hope you and your staff will have the opportunity to further review the design and finances of Social Security. If you would like any additional background on the program, I would be happy to assist you.
