US President Joe Biden proposed his fiscal year 2024 is largely mum on Social Security but Biden wants to make several huge changes to Medicare benefits.
Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Is Largely Mum on Social Security And Plans To Modify Medicare Benefits (PHOTO: The New York Times)
Two Retirees’ Most Important Are In Trouble
Two retirees’ most important programs which are Social Security’s trust funds will run out of money as soon as 2034 and medicare faces an even earlier insolvency, with its trust fund likely to be depleted by 2028. Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget plan would support extending the insurance program’s solvency by 25 years and providing a degree of middle-class stability to millions of older adults.
Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget
Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal does reference Social Security several times. The funds would be used to improve customer service and add staff to handle more disability claims. The president also proposed building a national paid family and medical leave program that would be administered by the Social Security Administration. This program would permit employees to take paid time off for family and medical reasons.
However, Biden’s proposed budget offers no details on how to stop Social Security from going insolvent within the next 10 years. Instead, it only states that the Biden administration “is dedicated to protecting and maintaining Social Security, and resists any attempt to slash the Social Security benefits.” It also refers to Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this year that “high-income individuals pay their fair share.”
Huge Modifications To Medicare
Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget plan appears to be punting the Social Security football to Congress. However, his suggested funding does tackle Medicare’s solvency problems. Biden’s primary way to maintain Medicare benefits is to tax the wealthy. Biden’s suggestion is to raise the Medicare tax rate from 3.8 percent to 5 percent for “the wealthiest Americans.” The president includes anyone making over $400,000 per year in this group. He also wants to close some tax loopholes. In particular, Biden would like to contain business owners from avoiding paying Medicare taxes on profits generated from pass-through businesses. With pass-through businesses, taxes aren’t paid by the business itself, instead, the owners of the business settle the taxes at individual income tax rates.
Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget plan isn’t focused on shoring up Medicare, it also would expand benefits in some ways. He also strives to allow Medicare to negotiate prices for even more drugs than were included in the Inflation Reduction Act and permits negotiations sooner after the drug’s launch. However, this would still not resolve Medicare forever but the White House states that they would extend the program’s solvency by at least 25 years and the reforms wouldn’t redUce any retirees’ benefits.
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