New GAO Study Gets It Wrong on Retirement Age

The Government Accountability Office has a new study, titled “Retirement Security: Shorter Life Expectancy Reduces Projected Lifetime Benefits for Lower Earners,” which focuses on how the fact that high earners live longer than low earners partially undoes Social Security’s progressivity.

I’ve written up a piece analyzing GAO’s work over at Forbes. Read the whole thing, but here’s one main point:

The GAO makes some policy news regarding Social Security reform. They state,

“Our analysis indicates that one frequently suggested change to address Social Security’s financial challenges, raising the retirement age, would further reduce projected lifetime benefits for lower-income groups proportionally more than for higher-income groups.”

I’m going to say flat out that this claim is wrong and GAO should know it’s wrong.