Nikki Haley Calls for Raising Retirement Age

What You Need to Know

Ahead of the 2024 elections, leaders in both parties are spotlighting the precarious financial position of Social Security and Medicare.
This week, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley proposed raising the full retirement age for young people and limiting benefits for wealthy retirees.
Democrats, including President Joe Biden, more commonly favor tax increases on the wealthy as a means to boost the programs’ solvency.

Speaking this week at a town hall in Iowa, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley staked out her positions on the closely linked and often divisive issues of Social Security and Medicare funding reform.

As shown in video of the event obtained by local media, Haley proposed raising the full retirement age for young people and limiting benefits for wealthy retirees, and she criticized proposals advanced by Democratic Party leaders that would shore up Social Security and Medicare by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

Halley did not specify either the age to which she would seek to raise the full retirement age or the cohort of younger Americans who would be subject to such a change. Likewise, she did not cite a specific income level at which wealthy Americans would see their benefits reduced or eliminated, and a request for this information from ThinkAdvisor has not yet been returned.

Nonetheless, Haley sought to convey to her audience the importance of addressing Social Security and Medicare funding, and she expressed a willingness to work with Democratic lawmakers on the issue, despite taking digs at President Joe Biden in the process.

“How do we fix it? You can do what Joe Biden is doing and hide your head in the sand, or do what he loves to do, and that is raise taxes,” Haley said. “That’s the lazy way out. How do we fix it? You reform the entitlements, but you do it in a way that won’t take anything away from seniors. You focus on the new generation, you focus on what’s next.”

Haley also proposed linking the annual Social Security cost-of living-adjustment (COLA) “to the actual level of inflation.”

“That’s something both Republicans and Democrats can agree on,” Haley said. “We can get that done.”