Social Security Announces New Feature on Popular
Online Benefits Estimator
Will save a half-million seniors a year from going
to office to get benefit information
Nov. 13, 2009 - The highly touted Retirement
Estimator at the Social Security Website has just added a new
enhancement to serve senior citizens that have signed up for Medicare
but have not applied for Social Security. Previously, these “Medicare
only” beneficiaries would need to contact a local office in order to
obtain an estimate of their Social Security benefits.
Now, the online Retirement Estimator, available at
www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator, can provide immediate and
personalized benefit estimates for these seniors as it does others.
Currently, about a half-million people file for
Medicare each year and delay filing for Social Security benefits,
according to Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, who
made the announcement today..
“Social Security’s Retirement Estimator has been a
huge success - with the agency providing over four million personalized
retirement estimates to Americans since its launch last year,”
Commissioner Astrue said.
“With more people delaying retirement beyond the
Medicare eligibility age, it is critical that they also have access to
this easy-to-use online tool.”
The Retirement Estimator is interactive and allows
users to compare different retirement options. For example, a person
can change retirement dates or expected future earnings to better
determine the impact on their future benefits and decide the best time
to retire.
The Retirement Estimator presently is the
highest-rated government online service in customer satisfaction and,
according to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction
Index, it exceeds the ratings of private sector online innovators like
Netflix and Amazon.
Commissioner Astrue also announced next year the
Retirement Estimator will be the first of Social Security’s online
services, and the first in all of government, to be made available in
Spanish. “Social Security serves a diverse population and we already
offer services by phone and in-person in a variety of languages,”
Commissioner Astrue noted. “Offering the Retirement Estimator in
Spanish will be an important step in making our online services even
easier for everyone to use.”
Nov. 13, 2009 - The highly touted Retirement
Estimator at the Social Security Website has just added a new
enhancement to serve senior citizens that have signed up for Medicare
but have not applied for Social Security. Previously, these “Medicare
only” beneficiaries would need to contact a local office in order to
obtain an estimate of their Social Security benefits.