The votes are in and the Democratic Party has taken control of the U.S. House of Representatives for at least the next two years. The Republicans maintained control of the U.S. Senate and President Donald Trump will be in office as well for at least the next two years, but what do these election results mean for Social Security and Medicare benefits?
The short answer is it could mean nothing. It is likely that Social Security and Medicare will look exactly the same two years from now because divided government typically equals at least some gridlock, so don’t expect sweeping changes to either program even though Social Security is experiencing a funding gap that could result in reduced benefits in as little as 15 years.
MarketWatch issued a recent story about how the midterm election might impact all types of retirement saving plans including Social Security. One thought from Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an organization that advocates for expanding Social Security benefits, is that the Democrats taking over the House is a good thing. There have been several Republicans who have advocated to reduce Social Security and Medicare funding and to increase the retirement age for benefits. Any legislation that could reduce Social Security benefits or increase the retirement age would be opposed by the Democrats in the House and Altman believes Democrats in the House can have an impact on starting the dialogue about increased funding to solve the upcoming shortfall.
“It is better to act sooner rather than later to restore people’s confidence and peace of mind,” Altman said.
Don’t expect any significant legislation related to Social Security to become law over the next two years, but the election of 2020, when the White House is up for grabs, could trigger more discussion about Social Security, which was basically not mentioned during the midterm election of 2018.
