By Steve McGraw

Senior Services of Snohomish County

Social Security has been one of America’s best success stories of lifting senior citizens out of poverty. It was forged in the classic American values of rewarding work, honoring our parents and caring for each other.

In 2015, one in six residents of Washington — 1,260,474 people — received Social Security payments totaling $19.4 billion in personal income. In Snohomish County over 190,000 seniors receive these payments, totaling more than $255 million annually (source: Social Security Administration, Congressional Statistics for December 2015, Washington — www.socialsecurity.gov/policy.)

Those dollars are a critical lifeline for tens of thousands of people and families and promote economic activity across the county. As the Boomers age, the numbers of people relying on Social Security will increase.

Social Security is quickly becoming the main source of income for many, due to wages not keeping up with the cost of living, the resulting decline in private savings, and the decline and elimination of employer pension programs.

A recent Bloomberg article referenced a survey by Greenwald &Associates for the National Institute on Retirement Security, concluding:

“If current trends continue, the U.S. soon will face rates of poverty among senior citizens not seen since the Great Depression.

Of the 18 million workers between the ages of 55 and 64 in 2012, more than 4 million will be poor or near poor at age 65. This includes 2.6 million Americans considered middle-class prior to retirement.”

The report concluded that “Americans are united in their anxiety about their economic security in retirement and in their dissatisfaction with national policy makers’ inaction to address the nation’s retirement crisis.”

The survey also found that:

Eighty percent of those surveyed said the average worker “cannot save enough on their own to guarantee a secure retirement.”

The high cost of long-term care is a major factor behind how tough it is to prepare for retirement, according to 88 percent of survey respondents.

Eighty-two percent of Americans said that the government should make offering pensions easier for employers.

Making sure that Americans have a secure retirement should be a higher priority for Washington, D.C., according to 88 percent of those surveyed.

Social Security’s benefits should be strengthened, increased and modernized to reflect the dignity and contribution of working citizens, to better cover health and long-term care costs, and to improve fairness.

In order to modernize and strengthen benefits and assure long-term stability for future generations, Congress should eliminate the earnings cap on contributions. Social Security should not be privatized in whole or in part.

The program’s retirement age, which is already scheduled to increase from 66 to 67, should not be raised further.

Please contact your senator or representative today with your concerns.

You can use this link to contact both your state and federal elected officials:

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials.

Steve McGraw is CEO of Senior Services of Snohomish County.