Enhanced Online Retirement Estimator Now Available

November 13, 2009

Baltimore, Maryland - Commissioner of Social Security Michael J. Astrue has announced that the online Retirement Estimator, which is available at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator, can now provide personalized and instant benefit estimates.

This enhancement will affect people who have already enrolled in Medicare but have not yet filed for their Social Security benefits. In the past, “Medicare only” beneficiaries would have to contact a local office just to get an approximation of their benefits.

According to Astrue, the Retirement Estimator enabled the agency to provide more than four million personalized approximations to Americans since it was launched the previous year. It is vital to have an access to this online tool given the number of people who are delaying retirement beyond Medicare’s eligibility age.

This Retirement Estimator is also interactive and can enable users to compare various retirement options. At present, it is regarded as the highest-rated government online service in customer satisfaction, as stated in the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Astrue said the agency is planning to make the online tool available in Spanish the next year. It will become the first of Social Security’s online services and in all of government to be offered in such language.