Raising cap on Social Security is a win/win

For the past two decades teen pregnancy rates across the U.S. have dropped. The drop was an additional 7.5% in 2025. Rates In Montana mirror this trend.

It’s a public health success. Delaying births means young girls are not having unplanned pregnancies before they want children and before they are financially and emotionally able to raise them. Reality for a teen mother often means loss of friends, raising a child without a partner, and poverty.

It means drastically narrowed options for education and pursuit of a career. Or it can mean a new grandparent suddenly has an infant to raise.

Dr. Marc Siegel, a news panelist, said declining birth rates for 15–19-year-olds is a problem rather than a public health victory. Politicians voice dire predictions about a future unfavorable ratio of working Americans to retired Americans and a resulting strain on social services.

We should not manipulate birth rate to support economic policy!

Social Security tax comes out of your paycheck at 6.2%, up to a cap of $184,500 income. For example, if you make $200,000 a year, then the $15,500 above the cap does not incur Social Security tax.

Congress can raise the cap. If the U.S. raises the cap on social security taxes, makes affordable childcare available, and provides paid parental leave, we can have a win/win.

These changes could mean more parents who are ready to have children, and who can support themselves and their children while contributing to the national economy. It would be a win for our nation’s young people.

– Stephanie Brancati, Big Arm