Now, the online Retirement Estimator, available at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator, can provide immediate and personalized benefit estimates for these seniors as it does others.

Currently, about a half-million people file for Medicare each year and delay filing for Social Security benefits, according to Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, who made the announcement today..

“Social Security’s Retirement Estimator has been a huge success - with the agency providing over four million personalized retirement estimates to Americans since its launch last year,” Commissioner Astrue said. 

“With more people delaying retirement beyond the Medicare eligibility age, it is critical that they also have access to this easy-to-use online tool.”

The Retirement Estimator is interactive and allows users to compare different retirement options.  For example, a person can change retirement dates or expected future earnings to better determine the impact on their future benefits and decide the best time to retire. 

The Retirement Estimator presently is the highest-rated government online service in customer satisfaction and, according to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index, it exceeds the ratings of private sector online innovators like Netflix and Amazon.

Commissioner Astrue also announced next year the Retirement Estimator will be the first of Social Security’s online services, and the first in all of government, to be made available in Spanish.  “Social Security serves a diverse population and we already offer services by phone and in-person in a variety of languages,” Commissioner Astrue noted.  “Offering the Retirement Estimator in Spanish will be an important step in making our online services even easier for everyone to use.”

To learn more about the Retirement Estimator go to www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator.