Fourth Stimulus Check Update: Specific Group May Be Eligible For New Direct Payments

Americans everywhere are still dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their wallets, yet calls for a fourth stimulus check from the government remain unanswered due to the economy’s growth. However, one group could actually find themselves surprisingly eligible for another check after all—senior citizens.

According to CNBC, estimates from the Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior group, showed that there could be a 6.2% increase in Social Security cost-of-living adjustments in 2022, and that, coupled with other rising costs, could be an issue for some elderly Americans. Specifically, low-income seniors are growing nervous that the adjustments to their Medicare costs, food benefits and rental subsidies could make things exceedingly more difficult from a financial perspective.

Now, the Senior Citizens League is making plans to petition Congress for a fourth stimulus check. However, they are requesting that the $1,400 payments be just for senior citizens. The group has plans to advocate for payments mainly for low-to-middle income retirees, with an effort to get them more non-taxable income that could soften the blow of higher costs if they are bumped into a higher tax bracket.

Unsurprisingly, the move has support, with the organization sending emails to supporters informing them of their plans to petition for the payments, and half of the responses shared ways that seniors in support of the plan were already working to try and cut costs.

“We have really hit a nerve with that first email,” Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst at the Senior Citizens League told CNBC. “It was an immediate response of support for the idea.”

Of course, support for stimulus checks, for seniors or otherwise, isn’t uncommon, with previous polls showing an overwhelming amount of Americans supporting either an additional payment, or recurring monthly payments. A petition for $2000/monthly payments to Americans when certain economic benchmarks are met has only continued to grow steam since it was first posted online, with more than 2.8 million signatures thus far.

Many have been wondering if another payment could be on the horizon due to the surge in new COVID-19 infections as a result of the Delta Variant, though the government has not advocated for new payments because of the variant. Though the federal government does not currently appear to have any plans regarding a new check, several states have unveiled extra payments for eligible citizens.