SSA actuaries respond on life expectancies

In a recent New York Times article, demographers Gary King and Samir Soneji argued that out-moded methods caused the SSA actuaries to underestimate increases in life spans, thereby overestimating the financial health of Social Security. Better forecasts, Kind and Soneji argue, would conclude that Social Security will become insolvent earlier than projected and face larger long-term deficits.

However, SSA’s Office of the Chief Actuary has published an analysis of King and Soneji’s claims, arguing that they use faulty data and don’t fully understand the actuaries’ methods.

Read and judge for yourself!