According to a report from the Associated Press, a GAO study found that "raising the retirement age for Social Security would disproportionately hurt low-income workers and minorities, and increase disability claims by older people unable to work." Further, while raising the age at which a worker receives full benefits would reduce costs, "raising the age when workers can get early benefits would hurt the program's finances because of the expected increase in disability claims."
In a recent column, Paul Kruggman pointed out that "working until you’re 69, which may sound doable for people with desk jobs, is a lot harder for the many Americans who still do physical labor." He also notes the following:
[W]hile average life expectancy is indeed rising, it’s doing so mainly for high earners, precisely the people who need Social Security least. Life expectancy in the bottom half of the income distribution has barely inched up over the past three decades. So the Bowles-Simpson [National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform] proposal is basically saying that janitors should be forced to work longer because these days corporate lawyers live to a ripe old age.
I agree. Raising the Retirement Age may force a lot of people already expecting to retire. Most of them are also having problems with their health.
Posted by: senior living long island | 10/02/2011 at 10:41 PM