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June 25, 2024 at 02:08 PM
What You Need to Know
- The bill requires the U.S. Comptroller to create a plan to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits from inflation.
- Social Security advocates Maria Freese and Nancy Altman say the bill is going nowhere.
- They called it a smokescreen, saying its sponsor, Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, favors cutting benefits.
Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, has introduced legislation, The Safeguarding Social Security and Medicare Act, to require the U.S. Comptroller General to create a plan to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits from the effects of inflation.
“The increased cost of living and record levels of inflation continue to put a financial strain on every American, especially those on Social Security and Medicare,” the bill states. ”It is necessary to carry out a study to understand how cost of living and inflation projections will affect Social Security and Medicare and to provide recommendations to Congress.”
The study would determine the effect of inflation on Medicare and Social Security and require the Comptroller General to submit to Congress within one year “recommendations on any legislative actions necessary to improve the ability to provide full benefits under such programs.”
The legislation, Nunn said in a statement, would require the Comptroller General “to create a plan to address challenges created by inflation to ensure beneficiaries receive their full benefits.”
As of May 2024, the Social Security Administration reported the average monthly payment was $1,788.24, Nunn pointed out.
“With inflation skyrocketing, Americans are seeing their budgets squeezed — especially those on a fixed income. Changes in the cost of gas, food, and more erode the purchasing power of those on fixed incomes until their benefits are adjusted,” Nunn said.
A ‘Smokescreen’
“The study required under the bill isn’t about improving Social Security or Medicare at all,” Maria Freese, senior legislative representative at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told ThinkAdvisor Tuesday in an email.
