HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Lifting, stretching and even running laps. That's a normal Thursday morning workout at the Barksdale Senior Center in Tampa.
Marian L. Wilkins joined the class Thursday morning. Just enough time to get a workout in before listening to President Joe Biden during a stop in Tampa.
"It's good that he's talking about the Social Security and not to let the people down. Because we need our social security," she said.
Wilkins says she relies on Social Security, but it's becoming increasingly harder.
"So many of us have retired. Social Security comes in where we really need it because rent has went up. Groceries has went up. Gas has went up. Everything has went up. So it puts a spot on the money that we do have. You know, some of us are scraping to pay Peter to pay Paul. Medicine is high, you know," she said.
Now Wilkins is worried about the future of Social Security.
"If they let Social Security disappear, that will be one of the worst crises in the United States because so many people wouldn't even be able to make it, period," she added.
Meantime, Sandy Schmidt brought up healthcare and how great Medicare has been for her.
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"When I first retired, I paid for my own medical insurance. So when I picked up that age, it was wonderful because the prices of medicine and physicians and specialists is very high," she said.
President Joe Biden addressed both women's concerns in his address at the University of Tampa Thursday.
“Look, I know that a lot of republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Well, let me say this. If that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare," President Biden told the crowd.
The President has focused on that topic all week, starting with remarks at the State of the Union address. Democrats and Republicans both claim the other side wants to make massive cuts to the two programs.
On Thursday, President Biden spoke about the importance of bipartisan support.
"We're often told that Democrats and Republicans can't work together. As I told my Republican friends on Tuesday, if we could work together in the last Congress and we did, there's no reason we can't work together and get things done in this Congress."
Bipartisanship is what Jeff Johnson, the AARP Florida State Director, believes will help protect the two programs.
"What we really need to see most is more of what we saw a little bit at the State of the Union, where both Republicans and Democrats were able to commit that social security and Medicare are critical programs that they want to protect. That's a good first step, and the next step is to begin to talk, right? Yeah, Republicans and Democrats together about what are solutions that would help strengthen the program, either by bringing in revenues in different ways or to it changing the structure of benefits," he said.
According to AARP, nearly 5 million Floridians are on Social Security. Annual Social Security benefits to Floridians contribute at least $81.7 billion to the state economy. Two million Floridians, or 45% of people 65 and older, rely on at least half of their income to come from the checks. More than a million say it's 90% or more of their income.
Annual Social Security benefits to Floridians pump at least $81.7 billion into the state economy, with $63.7 billion paid annually to those receiving retirement benefits and their eligible family members, $8.5 billionvia survivors benefits, and an additional $9.5 billion paid through the disability program.
While most of the people receiving the money are 65 and older, it's not exclusively for seniors.
"It also is an important safety net for those who are disabled or for those who lose a spouse or a family member," Johnson added.
Many now worry about the future of the benefits.
"We know that both programs have long-term solvency issues. They're not ones that are in crisis, but they are ones that we should start thinking about. How do we make changes to make sure that they can pay the full promise benefits, not only for the next ten years but for the next 75 years," Johnson added.
Johnson adds more context to why it's important for all generations to pay attention.
"Even when the Social Security Trust Fund is exhausted, it would still be able to pay three-quarters of the promise benefits, which we don't think is enough. But that shows that the bones, the structure of the program works, and it's something that really can be there for you and your peers, and your future children and grandchildren, if we take the effort to work together to try to strengthen it," he said.
Chris Shoup, Principal Financial Planner with SouthShore Financial Planning, says plenty of Baby Boomers reach out to him about the benefits.
"We mostly work with either retirees or individuals that are nearing retirement. So that, yeah, it comes up quite a bit," he said.
Social Security drying up shouldn't be a concern for them. Instead, it's the younger generation who should worry.
"It goes into that equation of what is a number that I'm comfortable with and looking at financial freedom or retirement. So individuals that I work with that are in their twenties and thirties, you know, there's ways that we can model in changes to social security."
Shoup says he's happy to see the conversations on Capitol Hill but has a suggestion.
"I think the one mistake that I see most often is individuals just don't really understand how kind of social security works, how inflation factors in. So I think the Government can do a lot more in just helping individuals be educated," Shoup offered.
