Treasury Department Announces Social Security Funds Will Run Out Sooner Than Previously Expected

The Treasury Department announced Tuesday that Social Security trusts holding retirement money for millions of Americans might be depleted sooner than expected, and trustees are partially blaming the coronavirus pandemic.

“Today, the U.S. 💵Department of the Treasury along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Social Security Administration released the annual Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports following a closed meeting of the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees,” the Treasury Department said in a news release.

In a summary of 2021 reports, the Social Security Administration announced that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will run out of money a year earlier than was calculated just last summer.

“The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays retirement and survivors benefits, will be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2033, one year earlier than reported last year. At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 76 percent of scheduled benefits,” the agency said.

The OASI fund pays retired workers, along with spouses and children of people who were eligible for benefits but have passed away. Current projections have eligible beneficiaries out of luck within 12 years.

Additionally, the Disability Insurance Trust Fund will be depleted more quickly than was projected during the last estimate in 2020, the SSA warned.