Social Security Changes off Table; Problems Remain

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is putting off changes to Social Security, but the massive retirement and disability program still faces long-term financial problems from an aging population and an economy that has been slow to rebound.

Those problems are getting new attention Friday as the trustees who oversee Social Security and Medicare release their annual reports on the programs' finances.

Medicare is in worse shape than Social Security because it is being hit by rising health care costs. But the trustees say both programs will become insolvent in the coming decades, unless Congress acts.

Last year, the trustees reported that the Medicare trust funds would be exhausted by 2029 and the Social Security trust funds would run out of money by 2037.