COVID-19 Kills Social Security?

The Social Security trust fund most Americans rely on for their retirement will run out of money in 12 years, one year sooner than expected, according to an annual government report published Tuesday.

The outlook, aggravated by the Covid pandemic, also threatens to shrink retirement payments and increase health-care costs for older Americans.

The Treasury Department oversees two Social Security funds: The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and the Disability Insurance Trust Funds. Those programs are designed to provide a source of income respectively to former workers who have retired at the end of their careers or to those who cannot work due to a disability.

Officials said that the Old-Age and Survivors trust fund is now able to pay scheduled benefits until 2033, one year earlier than reported last year. The Disability Insurance fund is estimated to be adequately funded through 2057, eight years earlier than in the report published in 2020.