Michael J. Astrue, commissioner of Social Security, has announced that the online Retirement Estimator, available at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator, can now provide immediate and personalized benefit estimates to people who have enrolled in Medicare but have not yet filed for Social Security benefits. Previously, these “Medicare only” beneficiaries would need to contact a local office in order to obtain an estimate of their benefits. Currently, about a half million people file for Medicare each year and delay filing for Social Security benefits.

“Social Security’s Retirement Estimator has been a huge success with the agency providing over 4 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. 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,” 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.