Cassidy, Collins unveil bipartisan bill to help inform decisions about Social Security benefits

With most Americans living well beyond retirement age, a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) would help them better plan for retirement by ensuring they have critical information for determining when to claim their Social Security benefits.

“Americans have earned their Social Security and should have the best financial information available when they retire,” Sen. Cassidy said. “Our bill ensures Americans planning for retirement get the most out of their benefit.” 

“Ensuring that more people are better prepared financially for retirement has consistently been one of my priorities,” said Sen. Collins. “Our bipartisan legislation would help improve retirement security by providing more details and transparent information to enable hard-working Americans to better plan for retirement and make decisions about when to claim the Social Security benefits they have earned.”

Sen. Cassidy on March 7 sponsored S. 692 with three original cosponsors, including Sen. Collins and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). The bill would require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to make changes to the Social Security terminology used in the rules, regulation, guidance, or other SSA materials, according to the bill’s text.

To provide additional clarity for Americans deciding when to claim their benefits, S. 692 would change SSA terminology from “early eligibility age,” “full retirement age,” and “delayed retirement credits” to “minimum benefit age,” “standard benefit age,” and “maximum benefit age” to better reflect Social Security’s claiming design and how the program works, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmakers.

The bill also would help Americans better plan for retirement by requiring SSA to mail Social Security statements — which detail how much a person has paid into Social Security and Medicare — every five years to individuals with Social Security accounts between the ages of 25 and 54, every two years for those between the ages of 55 and 59, and annually for those 60 and above, the summary says.

Sens. Cassidy, Kaine, and Collins also requested that the SSA develop an action plan to help individuals make more informed claiming decisions, according to a March 2 letter they sent to SSA Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi.

The senators asked Kijakazi to answer several questions by June 2 about SSA’s practices to inform Americans’ claiming decisions, including what the primary factors are that lead Americans to claim Social Security retirement benefits earlier than the full retirement age, and what actions SSA has taken thus far to address these factors or educate the public about the tradeoffs of early versus delayed claiming, among others.

“[W]e believe SSA should take more proactive measures to provide Americans with the tools and resources to determine how best to set themselves and their families up for financial security in retirement,” they wrote.