The Social Security Trust Fund does not hold a single dollar in cash. For decades, Congress borrowed your payroll contributions — money taken from every paycheck you ever earned — and spent it on general operations. They replaced it with $2.7 trillion in IOUs from the government to itself. Now those IOUs need to be redeemed to pay your benefits, and Washington has to borrow or tax to make good on them. The money is gone. The bill is coming due.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025, made it worse. It added $3.5 trillion to federal deficits and accelerated the trust fund's insolvency from 2033 to 2032. Politicians sold it as a tax cut for seniors — a $6,000 deduction — while quietly moving up the date your benefits get permanently slashed. A deduction today means nothing if your monthly check drops by $450 next decade.
For a typical retired Florida couple, insolvency means losing $18,400 a year. Not because they did anything wrong. Because Washington spent their money on everything except what it was supposed to be spent on.
Sources: 2025 Social Security Trustees Report · SSA Chief Actuary · CBOMedicare Part B premiums jumped 9.7% in a single year — to $206.50 a month in 2026, the second-highest increase in the program's history. Part D out-of-pocket costs hit $2,100 annually. The drug price negotiation program is a start — the first 10 negotiated drugs delivered savings of 38% to 79% for Florida seniors. But only 10 drugs are covered. Seniors take an average of 4.7 prescriptions. The math does not work yet.
Meanwhile, the cost of staying in your own home is becoming impossible. Home health aides in Florida cost upward of $27 an hour. Medicaid wait lists for home care stretch months or years. The alternative — nursing home care — averages over $100,000 a year, wiping out a lifetime of savings in months. Long-term care insurance premiums have spiked as much as 200%, and most insurers have left the market entirely.
Your Social Security cost-of-living adjustment does not keep pace. Your purchasing power shrinks every year. And the 53 million family caregivers holding the system together receive no financial support, no tax relief, and no respite. Chris Gleason will fight to cap out-of-pocket costs across all Medicare parts, expand drug price negotiation to 50 drugs by 2028, and fund the home care seniors actually need.
Sources: CMS · AARP · Genworth Cost of Care Survey · KFFFlorida seniors lost $388 million to fraud in 2024 — the second-worst state in the nation. The average victim lost nearly $34,000. Scammers impersonate Social Security, Medicare, the IRS, and even grandchildren in distress. They call, they email, they text, and they do not stop. The criminals are sophisticated. The enforcement is not. Only 17% of victims ever report the crime, which means the true cost is five to six times higher than anyone admits.
For a senior on a fixed income, a $34,000 loss is not a setback. It is the end. It is the difference between keeping the house and losing everything. Harold L. in Sarasota gave a man who said he was from Social Security his bank routing number. He was 79 years old. The man cleaned out $22,000 — everything Harold had left. The bank said there was nothing they could do.
Chris Gleason will fight for increased federal penalties for crimes targeting Americans over 60, expanded FBI Elder Fraud Strike Forces in Florida, and a national Senior Fraud Hotline with real-time authority to freeze suspicious transactions before the money disappears.
Sources: FBI IC3 · FL Attorney General · DOJ Elder Justice InitiativeYou paid into these programs your entire working life. Chris will make sure Washington keeps its word.
“My Social Security check is $1,847 a month. My rent is $1,400. My Medicare premium is $206. My Part D is another $35. That leaves me $206 for food, gas, and everything else for the entire month. I worked 38 years as a nurse. I saved what I could. And now I am one car repair away from not making it. A 23% cut would end me.”Dorothy W. · St. Petersburg, FL · Retired Nurse, 38 Years
Social Security is not an entitlement. It is a contract. You paid in with every paycheck for decades, and the government agreed to hold up its end when you retired. That trust is being broken by politicians who raid the trust fund, spike your healthcare costs, and leave you defenseless against criminals.
Chris Gleason is running for the United States Senate because Florida's five million seniors deserve a Senator who will treat this as the emergency it is — not a talking point to be recycled every election cycle and forgotten the day after.
Help Chris protect Social Security, Medicare, and the dignity of every American senior.
Every dollar you contribute funds the fight to save Social Security, lower Medicare costs, crack down on elder fraud, and hold Washington accountable for the money it owes you.
Read the Full Plan — Five Policy Planks, Evidence, and the NumbersEvery dollar fuels the fight. Every volunteer multiplies our reach. Florida deserves a Senator who answers to the people.