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Social Security: Different Approaches for Addressing Program Solvency

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Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date July 22, 1998
Report No. HEHS-98-33
Subject
Summary:

The aging of the baby boomers, lower fertility rates, and increasing longevity have eroded the long-term solvency of the Social Security program. The system's annual cash surpluses are now projected to decline substantially beginning around 2008, and by 2013, benefit payments are expected to exceed cash revenues. The Social Security Trust Funds are forecast to be depleted by 2032, at which time revenues will be able to pay no more than 75 percent of promised benefits. With a national debate underway on how best to resolve Social Security's long-term financing problems, GAO reviewed the various perspectives underlying the solvency debate, reform options within the current program structure, and issues that would arise if Social Security were restructured to include individual retirement accounts.

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