President Signs 15% Social President Nixon signed into law Dec. 30 a general ax revision law providing for a 15% increase in social ecurity benefits. The higher payments are effective this month. But ecause of the tremendous bookkeeping and accountig task, the 25.4 million older Americans on social ecurity rolls will not receive the increased payments ntil April 3, in their checks for March. Thus January nd February checks will be for the present amount. he higher monthly payments will begin in checks for March, received in April. Late in April "back payment" supplementary checks ill be mailed to cover the increase due beneficiaries or January and February under the new schedules. President's Statement Of the bill's social security provisions, President Nixon said in a statement discussing the entire tax evision measure: "Congress also accepted this Administration's recomnendation to increase social security payments, enbling our older citizens to maintain their standard of living in the face of rising prices. "Earlier I proposed that this be accomplished by a catchup' increase in payments, coupled with automatic ncreases in the years ahead to meet any future rises n living costs. "Congress provided instead for a higher one-time ncrease with no automatic increases in the years head. "I believe my position was more responsive to the ong-range needs of the elderly, but the overriding conideration is that 25 million recipients of social security benefits have fallen behind financially, which makes ny approval of this short-range revision necessary." Further Action Promised Rep. Wilbur D. Mills (Ark.), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has said the "first order of business" this year will be consideration of further changes in social security and other programs. In its report recommending the 15% increase, the committee said it "will continue consideration of the President's recommendations along with other proposals relating to public assistance and social security, including the operation of the medicare and medicaid programs." $345 Million Monthly Rise The Social Security Administration estimates that monthly benefits payable under the new law by March will amount to $2,525 million, a $345 million increase over monthly payments under the old law. The total of January and February back payments, to be sent beneficiaries in late April, will be about $700 million. Thus the regular and back payment checks going out in April will total more than $1 billion. Average monthly payments to a retired worker with no dependents will rise from $97 to $112; average payments to a couple will rise from $170 to $196 and to an aged widow from $88 to $101. The minimum benefit for a retired worker going on the rolls at or after age 65, and for a disabled worker, will increase from $55 to $64 a month; the maximum worker's benefit, from $218 to $250.70. This maximum benefit would not be payable until the year 2006 to people retired at 65, but maximum benefits are possible earlier for disabled people and for survivor families. Special payments for certain persons aged 72 and older who either have not worked at all or have not worked long enough to qualify for regular social security benefits also will increase by 15%-from $40 for an individual and $60 for a couple to $46 and $69, respectively. The table on page 24 shows the current and new rates for various classes of beneficiaries. |