Open Enrollment Season Begins at a Fraught Time for Medicare
This year's Medicare open enrollment season, which began on October 15, comes at a concerning time for the program. There are
Trump’s ‘Reaper’ is Coming for Your Disability Benefits
Trump & OMB Director Russell Vought (aka "The Reaper") The Trump administration is escalating its attacks on Social Security. As
Let the Drug Pricing Games Begin!
nder pressure from the White House, Big Pharma has been touting “discounts” via Direct to Consumer (DTC) websites. Meanwhile, the Trump administration promises to unveil its own prescription website, immodestly named TrumpRx, in 2026. Prescription drug prices obviously are still too high, though President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 was beginning to make headway in bringing them down. Unlike Biden’s IRA, these latest gestures by Big Pharma and the Trump Administration should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Trump Shutdown Could Snag Social Security, Medicare
In normal times, a government shutdown --- while unfortunate --- would not be cause for immediate alarm for people on Social Security and Medicare. But these are not normal times. The Trump administration has made the shutdown more perilous for the most vulnerable Americans because of its campaign to undermine the delivery of both programs --- not to mention the President’s recent threat to cut benefits.
Social Security Comish Would Consider Raising Retirement Age
Despite Trump’s pledge not to cut Social Security, administration officials keep letting the real agenda slip out. First, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted that privatizing Social Security was on the table. Now, Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano says he’s open to the idea of raising the retirement age. (The current full retirement age is 67; congressional Republicans have floated proposals to raise it as high as 70.)
In an interview on Fox Business News last week, host Maria Bartiromo asked Bisignano if he’d “consider raising the retirement age,” to which the commissioner replied, “I think everything’s being considered.”
Bisignano’s Un-Truthy Letter to the People — or “Fact-Checking the Frankster”
The Trump administration continues to gaslight the American people about its interference in the workings of the Social Security Administration (SSA). So it's time for another fact-check. The Trump administration and DOGE savagely cut staff, closed field offices, and erected barriers for beneficiaries attempting to access their earned benefits --- as part of a phony hunt for ‘fraud’ (which, in fact, is extremely rare).
Now, Commissioner Frank Bisignano is misleading the public by claiming that these actions have ‘improved’ customer service, when they have, in fact, made things significantly worse. On the 90th anniversary of Social Security in August, SSA posted an 'un-truthy' letter from Bisignano to the American people on its website.
We asked our director of government relations and policy, Dan Adcock, to knock down the false claims by Trump’s Social Security commissioner:
DOGE ‘Very Badly’ Mishandles Americans’ Social Security Data
Back in February, we warned that DOGE was compromising Americans’ personal information by accessing sensitive Social Security data:
“Seniors, their families, and people with disabilities most certainly cannot trust Trump and Musk with their crucial federal benefits — or their personal data.” – Max Richtman, NCPSSM President, 2/3/25
This week, our fears were confirmed. For no justifiable reason, DOGE team members uploaded the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans to “a vulnerable cloud server,” according to a whistleblower within the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Trump Marks Social Security’s 90th Anniversary by Spreading Misinformation
Social Security turned 90 this week, a milestone that should have been celebrated with reverence. However, the Trump administration marked the occasion by perpetuating misleading claims about its handling of the program. From manipulating statistics to spreading untruths about immigrants, this administration is playing a dangerous game with one of America’s most cherished federal programs.
Manipulating Metrics to Rewrite Reality
As our president, Max Richtman, reminds us, “We wish we could simply celebrate, but the 90-year history of Social Security shows that we must always defend the program from those who would privatize or outright eliminate it.” Richtman emphasizes, “Social Security is part of the fabric of American life and must be preserved for the future.”
Associated Press Flubs Social Security Trustees Story
We blogged earlier this week about the inaccuracy of media reports about Social Security’s financial future. Some mainstream media journalists seemed to rely on conservative tropes when covering the recent Social Security trustees report. A prime example: a news story from the Associated Press (AP) with the alarmist headline, Medicare and Social Security go-broke dates pushed up.
Some of the Media Bungle Social Security Trustees Report
It’d be swell if more of the mainstream media would accurately report the financial status of Social Security. Unfortunately, much of the coverage is influenced by conservative propaganda rather than actual facts. Predictably, much of the reporting on the recently released Social Security trustees report is less journalistic than histrionic and simplistic, as a quick review of the headlines reveals: