B. SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENTS SINCE THE 2019 REPORT Since the Trustees submitted the 2019 report to Congress, there has been one change in law that is estimated to have a significant financial effect on the OASDI program. On December 20, 2019, Public Law 116-94 repealed a provision in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), which specified an excise tax on employer-sponsored group health insurance premiums above a specified level (commonly referred to as the “Cadillac” tax). The excise tax on employer-sponsored group health insurance premiums, along with anticipated competitive premiums from health benefit exchanges, were expected to slow the growth in the average cost of insurance, thus increasing the share of employee compensation provided in wages subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Although the implementation of this provision was repeatedly delayed after 2010, each Trustees Report through the 2019 report reflected the Trustees’ assumption that the excise tax would eventually be applied. The repeal of this provision of the ACA therefore affects the Social Security program by decreasing the share of employee compensation that will be paid in wages covered by Social Security, resulting in slower growth in average real covered earnings and a significant negative financial effect on the OASDI program over both the short-range and long-range projection periods. This report also incorporates the effect of one new regulation that is estimated to have a small positive effect on the OASDI program. On February 25, 2020, the Social Security Administration published a final rule in the Federal Register that eliminates the inability to communicate in English as an educational category in the disability determination and medical review processes. This rule is estimated to reduce the number of disabled worker beneficiaries in the long-term by 0.25 percent. This regulation has a small but significant positive effect over the short-range period and a negligible positive effect over the long-range period. Finally, this report incorporates the effects of one change in policy that is estimated to have negligible effects over both the short-range and long-range projection periods. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, policy was implemented on June 15, 2012, enabling certain other-than-lawful-permanent-resident immigrants who entered the United States as children to receive employment authorization. DACA was rescinded by the Administration on September 5, 2017, directing a phase out of the program to be carried out over the following two years. As of the time this report was drafted, the phase out has been held up in the court system. This year’s report accordingly assumes the phase out will be completed in 2022, one year later than assumed in last year’s report. Sections IV.A.4 and IV.B.6 of this report provide further description of the magnitude of effects on the financial status of the OASDI program.
