2026 Social Security Trustees’ Report to Congress – Highlights
Disability Income (DI) Trust Fund – Can pay full benefits until the year 2100.
Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund – Can pay full benefits only until 4Q 2032. After that, revenue would cover only 78% of scheduled benefits unless Congress acts
Both Trusts (DI and OASI) combined (can’t be combined without an Act of Congress) – can pay full benefits until 3Q 2034, benefits will be cut to 83% then, and then again to 65% by 3100.
Analysts estimate a 75-year actuarial deficit of 4.42% of taxable payroll, with a present-value shortfall of roughly $31 trillion. In plain English, there is no tiny fix left.
The penalty for inaction should have been political death long ago. Instead, we reelected members of Congress who knowingly abandoned the futures of our children. Their OASI and the Medicare HI trust legacies are obvious on this chart. More on Medicare later.
It’s time for Congress and the Executive Branch to make bold moves to cut costs, not benefits, dump insurance companies, remove the payroll taxable income cap, switch to CPI-E to abate seniors healthcare cost exposure, combine OASI and DI Trusts and increase but also sunset payroll tax rates until we have earned the 75-year actuarial deficit projection to zero.
Bill Kadereit, President
National Retiree Legislative Network
