Social Security has had delays with the payment of benefits to many United States citizens. These pensioners have received their checks late for a number of reasons. The first reason is a lack of liquidity. The other, more recent reason is a computer problem. After all this, Social Security is optimistic that the situation will soon be better.
Social Security director David Mathhias told Observer AM that “We have identified particular strategies which we have discussed with the government in terms of, at one fell swoop, clearing off the backlog in the short-term. We continue those discussions and we hope that they will materialise before the end of this month.”
Last February the government assured that the negative impact of the pandemic would not influence economic activity. This was because a boost in economic activity was in place. But four months later, Director Matthias assures that there are not enough funds for Social Security.
Not enough money for Social Security
Matthias assures that “Our normal collections, including government revenues, have been what we have been servicing our pensions and short-term payments with all year. Frankly, the situation with respect to us collecting enough to pay both of those things is not there; that situation hasn’t changed at all.”
This indicates that Social Security will continue to have delays in its short-term payments. The director hopes that this will end in the future, because the situation may become untenable if they do not resolved soon.
What is the main reason for the delay?
Director Matthias stated that one of the big reasons for the delays is that the administration is focusing on people who have their income fixed: “We focus on those people who have fixed incomes with no change in the period, we have given them priority, and the result of that has been that we were months behind, and we are still months behind with respect to the payment of short-term benefits.” This does not delay payment to people with fixed benefits, but it does mean that the rest of the people can receive them later.
That said, the only thing that remains to be seen is for the government to find a favorable solution to the lack of funds. Social Security is confident that this problem will soon be solved, but the solutions have not yet arrived and the situation could get a little worse. In any case, hope remains.