Tarentum’s Donna Medvan says she doesn’t know how she’d afford to keep a roof over her head if the federal government reduced her Social Security retirement benefits.
Leslie Wheeler of Pittsburgh worries she’d have to go back to work — a daunting prospect for a septuagenarian with health issues.
And Lower Burrell’s Lacy Ban, still decades away from being eligible to receive Social Security benefits, doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to stop working.
“I’m probably going to work until I die,” Ban, 34, said Thursday as she spent time with a friend at Crooked Creek Lake in Armstrong County. “I don’t have any hopes for Social Security to be around when we get to retirement age.”
Across Western Pennsylvania, retirees and working adults alike expressed frustration with the government in response to a report projecting that Social Security’s retirement trust fund could be depleted by 2032 — resulting in a 24% cut in benefits for recipients.
The report, released Wednesday by the Washington-based Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said that would amount to an average monthly reduction of $519 for Pennsylvanians receiving Social Security retirement benefits.
“Cutting it, I think that would be disastrous for a lot of people everywhere, a lot of senior citizens,” said Connie Morante, 82, of Tarentum.
Policymakers still have time to address the problem before the trust fund is projected to dry up, though many Western Pennsylvanians who spoke with TribLive don’t have much faith in lawmakers in hyperpolarized Washington.
“This country is in such a bad way, you know?” said Wheeler, 70. “I hope they can get things situated by the grace of God, and we’ll all come back together.”
Wheeler said she doesn’t have any other retirement income aside from Social Security.
“I was able to work at one time, and I probably still could part time, but it wouldn’t be a lot because of my health issues,” said Wheeler, who called the potential benefits cuts “disheartening.”
Social Security is also Medvan’s only retirement income.
“It’s the only thing I have, and $519 is going to put me out on the street,” Medvan said.
She said the prospect of having to return to work to offset the potential loss in benefits would be daunting for her and many other retirees.
“Where is an 80-year-old, or even me at this age, going to go?” she said. “I can’t do it. None of us can do it.”
A survey conducted last year by the Alexandria, Va.-based Senior Citizens League showed that 73% of seniors received more than half of their income from Social Security payments, while 39% got all of their income from Social Security.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said in its report that the cost of providing Social Security benefits has exceeded the revenue brought in by the program, mostly from payroll taxes, for the past 16 years.
The trust fund has been used to make up the difference and maintain full benefits.
Numerous proposals have been floated over the years to address the problem. They include steps such as increasing payroll taxes, raising the retirement age, removing or increasing the cap on which earners must pay Social Security taxes and changing how cost-of-living adjustment increases are calculated.
As of late Thursday afternoon, a CivicScience survey embedded in a previous TribLive story about the issue showed 39% of respondents were not at all confident that Social Security would provide full benefits in the future, while another 30% were not very confident. About 15% said they were very confident that full benefits would be provided in the future, 12% were somewhat confident and 4% were unsure.
Many people who spoke with TribLive on Thursday, especially those not yet of retirement age, were not optimistic that the benefits would be there.
“I don’t think it’s going to be there for people of my age,” said Chloe Kruse, 37, of Ford City, who was spending time with Ban at Armstrong County’s Crooked Creek Lake.
She said she thinks her 403(b), the nonprofit and public sector equivalent of a 401(k), will serve as her primary source of retirement income.
Mike Consla, 54, a para-mobility transporter for the Highland Area Senior Center in Tarentum, predicts that when he retires he might collect 50% to 75% of what retirees do now.
“We’ve given up on our elderly when we should be investing more in our elderly as we live longer,” Consla said.
Kelly and Jesse Dowdrick of Manor, both in their mid-30s, said they were disappointed to hear about the potential reduction in benefits to Social Security, but neither appears to be counting on it in retirement. The couple doesn’t have a dedicated retirement account but invests in stocks to save for the future.
“We’re trying to live a life, especially if you’re our ages, where you don’t need to depend on Social Security coming in time,” Jesse Dowdrick, 37, said. “You can’t really expect Social Security to be there, because we’re not guaranteed it. It’s just a social program.”
Others don’t see it that way.
“I’ve been told it was going to be there since I was 8 years old. The retirement age should remain the same. People are working more now to make ends meet, so I don’t think they should have to work more” years to be eligible for full retirement benefits, said Ash Franzetti, 42, of Greensburg.
“I think that (Social Security) should not be dropped by one penny because it’s not fair,” added Emelyn Scott, 77, of Churchill. “You have these people who are older people, who have paid into all their lives.”
