The Honorable Peter Welch
115 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Gabe Amo
1119 Longworth House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Senator Welch and Representative Amo,
On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, I am writing to endorse your legislation, the “Social Security Survivor Benefits Equity Act.” Members of the National Committee come from all walks of life and every political persuasion. What unites them is their passion for protecting and strengthening Social Security, Medicare, and the other programs that are so vitally important to older Americans.
Among the lesser known and utilized benefits provided under the Social Security Act is a lump-sum amount payable upon the death of a beneficiary. This lump-sum death benefit is intended to help the surviving family pay for a beneficiary’s funeral expenses, though the last time the amount was adjusted was seventy years ago, when funerals only cost about $700. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the national median cost of a funeral with a viewing and burial in 2023 was $8,300 and of a funeral with cremation was $6,280. Meanwhile, the Social Security death benefit is still frozen at $255, the cap last established in 1954. Had this benefit been indexed for inflation, it would have reached $2,908 in 2024.
Your bill, the Social Security Survivor Benefits Equity Act would adjust the death benefit to account for inflation by setting the amount at $2,900 in 2025, and indexing the benefit thereafter. This important change would provide some amount of relief to families facing financial and emotional burdens following the death of a loved one. Increasing the level would also provide an incentive for more families to claim the benefit, thus advancing the President’s goal of increased accuracy in timely and accurate reporting of the death of Social Security beneficiaries.
On behalf of the National Committee, I am pleased to endorse the Social Security Survivor Benefits Equity Act. We thank you for your leadership in developing this proposal and look forward to working with you to advance this much-needed update.
Sincerely,
Max Richtman
President and CEO