Social insecurity: trust fund depletion.

• Author: Suderman, Peter
• Position: Social Security - Brief article

WHAT HAPPENS when the Social Security trust fund runs out of money? Millions of people may find out soon. The program's disability insurance (D.I.) trust fund--a legally separate and distinct entity from the one that pays retirement benefits--is set to run dry, the Obama administration admitted in July.

A report from Social Security's public trustees estimates that the trust fund will be depleted at the end of 2016, leaving the program to pay out benefits based only on revenues collected from payroll taxes. But the revenue generated by those taxes is only expected to cover about 8I percent of the program's expenditures, leaving an estimated II million people without their full benefits.

The Obama administration called on Congress to pass legislation allowing some funds to be transferred from the main Social Security trust fund to the D.I. trust fund. The program's trustees grudgingly agree...