With the odds of a US debt default growing exponentially, the advocates of Social Security have been warning the beneficiaries that they should be aware in case the payments end up being interrupted. There have been ongoing negotiations regarding the ability of the nation to borrow money and whether it should be expanded, but the White House and Congress have yet to reach an agreement on the forward path.
This limbo has put the country in a precarious position financially, which would leave a lot of Americans at risk. The Director of Government Relations and Policy for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Dan Adcock, stated that there was a relatively good chance that in the case of a default, the benefits of millions of Americans would be disrupted.
Social Security Recipients Could Be Missing Out
As it stands, millions of American beneficiaries don’t really have any financial room to maneuver, which noted that close to 40% of the recipients of social security, which included the population which was disabled and widowed, would be receiving 90% of their income from the safety net program. This equates to close to 27 million people. Adcock said that though they were a few weeks away before a default, they will not have enough to squirrel away to cushion for not receiving any payments.
Certain analysts have suggested that it isn’t really certain that the government will be missing payments to recipients of Social Security in the event of a default. The matter will depend quite likely on how much cash is on one’s hand if or when the debt ceiling is breached. The staggered schedule of payments for Social Security, which relies pretty heavily on the birthdate of the individual to determine which part of the month they would be receiving it, also implies that not all the beneficiaries will be affected equally in a missed payment scenario.
