My former Social Security Administration colleague and co-author David Weaver has an interesting op-ed in The Hill that looks at expanding Social Security’s death benefit.
In a typical year, about 2.8 million Americans die. The ultimate effect on mortality of the current public health emergency is unknown, with estimates of 60,000 deaths ultimately occurring. Death is certainly an unpleasant topic, but the country can take some comfort in its well-developed social insurance programs which provide income to survivors. Most Americans likely know that Social Security pays monthly benefits to aged widows and widowers — but many people may be unaware the Social Security program also supports minor and disabled children, widowed mothers and fathers, disabled widows and widowers, and even some elderly parents upon the death of a worker.
Almost all Social Security benefits are monthly benefits, but there is an exception: the lump sum death benefit (LSDB).
This is an old feature of Social Security, having been put into place with the original Social Security Act in 1935. Over time, the one-time benefit came to be viewed by many policymakers as a way of acknowledging the higher expenses a widow faced due to a spouse’s final illness and funeral. This little-known benefit from the Social Security program may be due for some refurbishing. The reason? The benefit is only $255.
You can check out the whole piece here.
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1 comment:
Just plain ignorant. SS-OASI has not put a single penny of payroll taxes into the trust fund since 2010 and this proposal wants money from the General Fund which has a debt now of $25 Trillion + as the money press goes Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Repeal the Social Security Act and kick this addiction to government hand out and ponzi schemes.
Just wait for the big surprise for those who turn 62 in 2022 who were born in 1960. Better hold onto your pants. The initial SS-OASI benefit is not going to be higher or even the same as the cohort's born in 1959 whose replacement index is calculated using the SSA average wage in 2019.
The coronavirus is going to reduce the SSA average wage this year by a lot. So far 25 million unemployed and the number will grow. Many want to go back to work, which will spread the virus more. We have not reached the peak.
China shut everything down, nobody allowed to leave their homes. It took 78 days from the peak before China began opening up [their net rate of change was under .1%]. The US peaked on March 20,2020 as a whole, but there are still spikes occurring in local areas. We are still seeing a net increase of 3.3% increase in new cases.
In the past 10 world pandemics, there has always been a second peak. We have more travel than at any time.
Those initial SS-OASI benefits for those born in 1960 will be far lower than those born in 1959.
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