Nikki Haley Again Says US Should Raise Retirement Age to Reflect Life Expectancy

Republican presidential candidates former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (L) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis participate in the NBC News Republican Presidential Primary Debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami on Nov. 8, 2023. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a 2024 presidential candidate, again proposed raising the retirement age to reflect the increase in life expectancy.

“Social Security goes bankrupt in 10 years. Medicare goes bankrupt in eight. Anyone that says they’re not going to take on entitlement reform means they’re going to go in and be president and leave the country bankrupt. You can’t do that,” she told CNBC on Wednesday.

“For everybody coming into the system like my kids in their 20s, you change it. ... We’re going to raise the retirement age to reflect life expectancy. We’re no longer going to do cost-of-living increases. We’re going to do increases based on inflation,” the former governor stated.

She added: “We’re going to limit the benefits on the wealthy and we’re going to expand the Medicare Advantage plan so that we have more competition. We have to start looking at a common sense way to do it without hurting people. But our kids know they’re not going to get it otherwise.”

It’s not the first time Ms. Haley has proposed increasing the retirement age. In September, she said at a New Hampshire campaign event that she would protect those who currently are receiving Medicare and Social Security benefits.

“We’ll keep these programs the same for anyone who’s in their 40s, 50s, 60s, or older, period. And we’ll preserve Social Security and Medicare for the next generation,” Ms. Haley said at the time, adding that “entitlement spending is unsustainable. We need reform. The longer we wait, the harder it gets, and the more painful it will be.”

In the recent interview with CNBC and at the New Hampshire event, she did not give the proposed age for retirement. Currently, the full retirement age for people born between 1954 and 1959 is 66, and it increases by a few months each birth year until it reaches age 67 for people born in 1960 or later, according to a Social Security administration document.

The GOP candidate, who is currently trailing in Republican primary polls behind former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also has not touched on studies and data that suggest that the U.S. life expectancy has been consistently dropping in recent years. A John Hopkins University paper found that the United States has seen its sharpest decline in life expectancy since World War I.

In the CNBC interview, Ms. Haley claimed she received a phone call from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and suggested she got his endorsement to cut federal retirement and medical insurance programs, The Hill reported.

“The idea that a Jamie Dimon or a Stan Druckenmiller would be supportive, we’ll take it. … These are men that see what’s happening. They see that in a couple years, our interest expenses are going to be higher than our national defense budget. They see what’s in the future,” Ms. Haley said.

Other Claims

Ms. Haley also drew headlines this week after she said that anonymous social media users should be mandated to use their real names, saying that “every person on social media should be verified by their name.” She didn’t elaborate on how the proposal could be enforced, or whether the policy would apply to Americans or foreign nationals.

“When you do that, all of a sudden people have to stand by what they say and it gets rid of the Russian bots, the Iranian bots, and the Chinese bots,” she said, adding that social media platforms should “show America their algorithms, let us see why they’re pushing what they’re pushing.”

It drew criticism from Mr. DeSantis and GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Mr. DeSantis characterized her plan as “dangerous and unconstitutional,” noting that the writers of the Federalist Papers remained anonymous when they penned those documents, while Mr. Ramaswamy made a similar statement, also calling her stance “disgusting.”

Republican presidential candidates (L-R) former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) walk onstage during the NBC News Republican Presidential Primary Debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami on on Nov. 8, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Social media has become a point of contention among Ms. Haley and Mr. Ramaswamy. During the third debate, the two clashed over Mr. Ramaswamy’s use of TikTok, and she called him “scum” after Mr. Ramaswamy said her daughter used the social media platform.

“She made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time,” Mr. Ramaswamy said.

“Leave my daughter out of your voice,” she said in response.

An aggregate of recent polls shows that Ms. Haley is far behind President Trump and still about 5 percent behind Mr. DeSantis nationally. President Trump has about 58 percent support, Mr. DeSantis has 14.8 percent support, Ms. Haley has 9 percent, Mr. Ramaswamy has 4.9 percent, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has 2.5 percent.