It’s Time to Change the Social Security Conversation
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare Foundation, the National Organization for Women Foundation and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research briefed Congressional staff today on their research examining the challenges facing America’s elderly women and their families. Our report, Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling also proposes initiatives to ensure Social Security benefits are adequate for all Americans, particularly for women and women of color.
“The truth is — as our nation ages and retirement income continues to decline for millions of Americans – Congress should be talking about the adequacy of Social Security’s benefits not cutting them. Congress should examine the inequities that have created a poverty rate for senior women and widows that is 50% higher than other retirees 65 and older. We can break this Social Security glass ceiling…in fact, we must do so to preserve the economic security of generations of American women and their families.” Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO“Our proposals are designed to modernize the Social Security system and recognize particularly the changes that have occurred in women’s lives and in family life, so that women will be rewarded more fairly for the full value of the work they do, both in the labor market and in raising the next generation. We can strengthen the Social Security system to address the gender gap in retirement that reveals many more older women in poverty than older men, while still addressing the financial needs of the program.” Dr. Heidi Hartmann, Institute for Women’s Policy Research President “If implemented, the recommendations we make in ‘Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling’ will go a long way toward creating a retirement and disability insurance program that recognizes the new reality of working women and men and values women’s role in society as both breadwinners and primary caregivers. Crediting women’s years out of the paid labor force is a long overdue feature that NOW strongly supports and urges lawmakers to support as well.” Terry O’Neill, NOW Foundation President
Here are just some of the recommendations in this groundbreaking report:
- Improving Survivor Benefits. Women living alone often are forced into poverty because of benefit reductions stemming from the death of a spouse. Providing a widow or widower with 75 percent of the couple’s combined benefit treats one-earner and two-earner couples more fairly and reduces the likelihood of leaving the survivor in poverty.
- Providing Social Security Credits for Caregivers. We recommend imputed earnings for up to five family service years be granted to a worker who leaves or reduces his/her participation in the work force to provide care to children under the age of six or to elderly family members.
- Equal Benefits for Same-Sex Married Couples and Partners. Gay and lesbian same-sex couples, whether married or not, are denied a host of benefits under state and federal law that are routinely provided to heterosexual married couples. Social Security benefits should not be denied to qualified retirees because of their sexual orientation.
- Restoring Student Benefits. Social Security pays benefits to children until age 18, or 19 if they are still attending high school, if a working parent has died, become disabled or retired. In the past, those benefits continued until age 22 if the child was a full-time student in college or a vocational school. Congress ended post-secondary students’ benefits in 1981 which has disproportionately hurt children of parents in blue-collar jobs, African Americans, and lower income students.
“Social Security is a vital lifeline for all Americans, especially women and people of color. When you consider that Social Security provides 90% of seniors’ income for 58% of unmarried women of color, 53% of Hispanics and 47% of African Americans it’s hard to understand why benefit cuts are always the first answer for fiscal hawks hoping to use Social Security for deficit reduction. Building on what works, ‘Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling’ offers a modernization plan for Social Security that would strengthen benefits for women and their families while improving the equity and adequacy for generations of Americans.” Dr. Carroll Estes, NPCSSM Foundation Board Chair
While some suggest we can’t afford to provide even current level benefits to America’s retirees, disabled and their families, we disagree. In fact, we believe our nation can’t afford not to provide fair and adequate benefits for future generations of working Americans. A number of funding options are included in this research, including:
- Eliminate the Cap on Social Security Payroll Contributions.
- Slowly Increase the Contribution Rate by 1/40th of One Percent over 20 years.
- Treat all Salary Reduction Plans like 401K’s.
Together, these proposals provide revenue increases equal to 3.99% of taxable payroll. They would close the actuarial deficit (2.67% of payroll) while also funding the modest program improvements recommended.Here’s the link to the full report, “Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling”.You can watch the entire briefing here on CSPAN.
How to Make Older Americans Month Really Mean Something
Chances are you may not even realize May is Older Americans Month. Those of us who work in the aging policy community certainly do but we have often wondered if these commemorative months really have any meaning to the communities they’re designed to honor?One of our favorite bloggers, has an interesting take on the whole issue and we suggest you read her entire post. We couldn’t agree more with “Crabby Old Lady’s” key takeaway point —
Crabby wants inclusion for elders in daily life every day of the year.There is so much that needs doing for elders that would help them take part in the life of their communities – that would help everyone else too. Such as:-Improve public transportation-Enforce age discrimination in the workplace laws-Encourage better geriatric education for physicians-Invite elders onto the citizen advisory boards of cities and towns-Create opportunities to serve that make use of elders’ decades of experience and knowledge-Teach elders how to effectively lobby government officialsMost of all, stop Congress from scaring the crap out of elders with constant threats to cut or kill Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.Working on these issues would be real honoring of elders.
One more recommendation that fits well under our Older Americans month theme…please take a moment to read this terrific post on Huffington which provides a concise and easy to read listing of resources available to America’s seniors.
The Hunger Shame: Seniors are More Food Insecure than Ever
A recent report from Meals on Wheels shows a 78% spike in seniors at risk for hunger since 2001. Although senior citizens have a vital lifeline in Social Security and Medicare benefits, rising food prices and health care costs continue to eat away at their fixed incomes.
According to a Huffington Post piece, one in seven seniors in America, some 8.3 million people, are having difficulty affording sufficient food. Certain groups are at a higher risk than others. Seniors age 60-69, minorities and women are more likely to face hunger than the general population. Women make up 60 percent of the population facing a hunger risk and African-Americans and Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to face food insecurity.
Senior citizens on Social Security and Medicare aren’t living “high on the hog,” as some in Washington like to claim when supporting benefit cuts. We should remind Alan Simpson, who once complained seniors were well off driving their Lexus to the Perkins restaurants for AARP discounts, his view of the world doesn’t match up with the facts. We should be finding ways to strengthen Social Security and Medicare benefits, not cut them for those that can afford it the least.
Here’s Some Monday Morning Reading with Actual Fact-based Info on Social Security & Retirement
Here are two really wonderful pieces on Social Security and Retirement we highly recommend you read.My Faith-Based Retirement by Joe Nocera at the New York Times describes his all-too common personal experience with 401K?s while economist Jared Bernstein provides some desperately needed myth-busting in his Rolling Stone piece, Straight Talk on Social Security. While we don?t agree with his suggestion to move to a chained-CPI, he?s right about the need to push back on all the lies about Social Security?s fiscal health.
Busting Myths about the 2012 Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report
No doubt you’ve already seen the screaming headlines promising the immediate bankruptcy of Social Security and Medicare…it’s an annual Washington tradition tied to the release of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees report. Unfortunately, this tradition seldom stems from factual reporting of what’s actually in the trustees report. This year is no exception.To help you sort fact from fiction about the true health of Social Security and Medicare, here is our President/CEO Max Richtman’s reaction to the Trustees’ projections and some data you likely won’t see reported in this week’s news coverage:
?Projections in the 2012 Trustees Reports come as no surprise to anyone who understands how Social Security and Medicare work. The trust fund solvency date for Social Security has seen fluctuations many times in recent decades, from a depletion date as distant as 2048 in the 1988 report to as soon as 2029 in the 1994 and 1997 reports. This year?s report is well within that range. Contrary to the crisis myths perpetuated by fiscal conservatives and many in the media, the prevailing facts show once again that Social Security remains among the nation?s most successful and stable programs. The Trustees report there is now $2.7 trillion in the Social Security trust fund, which is $69 billion more than last year, and continues to grow. Payroll contributions and interest will fully cover benefits for decades to come.? Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO
In the 2012 Trustees report:
- Trustees project Social Security will be able to pay full benefits until the year 2033. After that, Social Security will have sufficient revenue to pay about 75% of benefits.
- Social Security is still well funded. In 2012, with the economy showing slow signs of recovery, Social Security?s total income still exceeded its expenses by over $57 billion. In fact, the Trustees estimate that total annual income is expected to exceed program obligations until 2020.
- Beneficiaries will likely see a Cost of Living Allowance increase of 1.8% in 2013.
The 2012 Trustees report also shows Medicare?s Trust Fund solvency projection remains unchanged at 2024. This reflects the success that health care reform has had in improving Medicare?s solvency. If long-term solvency for Medicare is truly Congress? goal, then repealing health care reform is not an option as it would set back that progress immeasurably.
?The challenges facing Medicare are the same that we see in the broader health care system?the high cost of health care in America. Thanks to health care reform, Medicare will save $200 billion by 2016, but even those savings would be lost if opponents have their way and the Affordable Care Act is repealed. We must allow reform to be fully implemented in order to realize the projected savings.? Max Richtman
The National Committee believes that Congress can also improve the long-term outlook for Social Security with modest and manageable changes in revenue without enacting harmful benefit cuts for current or future retirees. Recent polling has shown that a majority of Americans support lifting the payroll tax cap to ensure Americans contribute at all income levels.
It’s Time to Change the Social Security Conversation
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare Foundation, the National Organization for Women Foundation and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research briefed Congressional staff today on their research examining the challenges facing America’s elderly women and their families. Our report, Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling also proposes initiatives to ensure Social Security benefits are adequate for all Americans, particularly for women and women of color.
“The truth is — as our nation ages and retirement income continues to decline for millions of Americans – Congress should be talking about the adequacy of Social Security’s benefits not cutting them. Congress should examine the inequities that have created a poverty rate for senior women and widows that is 50% higher than other retirees 65 and older. We can break this Social Security glass ceiling…in fact, we must do so to preserve the economic security of generations of American women and their families.” Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO“Our proposals are designed to modernize the Social Security system and recognize particularly the changes that have occurred in women’s lives and in family life, so that women will be rewarded more fairly for the full value of the work they do, both in the labor market and in raising the next generation. We can strengthen the Social Security system to address the gender gap in retirement that reveals many more older women in poverty than older men, while still addressing the financial needs of the program.” Dr. Heidi Hartmann, Institute for Women’s Policy Research President “If implemented, the recommendations we make in ‘Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling’ will go a long way toward creating a retirement and disability insurance program that recognizes the new reality of working women and men and values women’s role in society as both breadwinners and primary caregivers. Crediting women’s years out of the paid labor force is a long overdue feature that NOW strongly supports and urges lawmakers to support as well.” Terry O’Neill, NOW Foundation President
Here are just some of the recommendations in this groundbreaking report:
- Improving Survivor Benefits. Women living alone often are forced into poverty because of benefit reductions stemming from the death of a spouse. Providing a widow or widower with 75 percent of the couple’s combined benefit treats one-earner and two-earner couples more fairly and reduces the likelihood of leaving the survivor in poverty.
- Providing Social Security Credits for Caregivers. We recommend imputed earnings for up to five family service years be granted to a worker who leaves or reduces his/her participation in the work force to provide care to children under the age of six or to elderly family members.
- Equal Benefits for Same-Sex Married Couples and Partners. Gay and lesbian same-sex couples, whether married or not, are denied a host of benefits under state and federal law that are routinely provided to heterosexual married couples. Social Security benefits should not be denied to qualified retirees because of their sexual orientation.
- Restoring Student Benefits. Social Security pays benefits to children until age 18, or 19 if they are still attending high school, if a working parent has died, become disabled or retired. In the past, those benefits continued until age 22 if the child was a full-time student in college or a vocational school. Congress ended post-secondary students’ benefits in 1981 which has disproportionately hurt children of parents in blue-collar jobs, African Americans, and lower income students.
“Social Security is a vital lifeline for all Americans, especially women and people of color. When you consider that Social Security provides 90% of seniors’ income for 58% of unmarried women of color, 53% of Hispanics and 47% of African Americans it’s hard to understand why benefit cuts are always the first answer for fiscal hawks hoping to use Social Security for deficit reduction. Building on what works, ‘Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling’ offers a modernization plan for Social Security that would strengthen benefits for women and their families while improving the equity and adequacy for generations of Americans.” Dr. Carroll Estes, NPCSSM Foundation Board Chair
While some suggest we can’t afford to provide even current level benefits to America’s retirees, disabled and their families, we disagree. In fact, we believe our nation can’t afford not to provide fair and adequate benefits for future generations of working Americans. A number of funding options are included in this research, including:
- Eliminate the Cap on Social Security Payroll Contributions.
- Slowly Increase the Contribution Rate by 1/40th of One Percent over 20 years.
- Treat all Salary Reduction Plans like 401K’s.
Together, these proposals provide revenue increases equal to 3.99% of taxable payroll. They would close the actuarial deficit (2.67% of payroll) while also funding the modest program improvements recommended.Here’s the link to the full report, “Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling”.You can watch the entire briefing here on CSPAN.
How to Make Older Americans Month Really Mean Something
Chances are you may not even realize May is Older Americans Month. Those of us who work in the aging policy community certainly do but we have often wondered if these commemorative months really have any meaning to the communities they’re designed to honor?One of our favorite bloggers, has an interesting take on the whole issue and we suggest you read her entire post. We couldn’t agree more with “Crabby Old Lady’s” key takeaway point —
Crabby wants inclusion for elders in daily life every day of the year.There is so much that needs doing for elders that would help them take part in the life of their communities – that would help everyone else too. Such as:-Improve public transportation-Enforce age discrimination in the workplace laws-Encourage better geriatric education for physicians-Invite elders onto the citizen advisory boards of cities and towns-Create opportunities to serve that make use of elders’ decades of experience and knowledge-Teach elders how to effectively lobby government officialsMost of all, stop Congress from scaring the crap out of elders with constant threats to cut or kill Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.Working on these issues would be real honoring of elders.
One more recommendation that fits well under our Older Americans month theme…please take a moment to read this terrific post on Huffington which provides a concise and easy to read listing of resources available to America’s seniors.
The Hunger Shame: Seniors are More Food Insecure than Ever
A recent report from Meals on Wheels shows a 78% spike in seniors at risk for hunger since 2001. Although senior citizens have a vital lifeline in Social Security and Medicare benefits, rising food prices and health care costs continue to eat away at their fixed incomes.
According to a Huffington Post piece, one in seven seniors in America, some 8.3 million people, are having difficulty affording sufficient food. Certain groups are at a higher risk than others. Seniors age 60-69, minorities and women are more likely to face hunger than the general population. Women make up 60 percent of the population facing a hunger risk and African-Americans and Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to face food insecurity.
Senior citizens on Social Security and Medicare aren’t living “high on the hog,” as some in Washington like to claim when supporting benefit cuts. We should remind Alan Simpson, who once complained seniors were well off driving their Lexus to the Perkins restaurants for AARP discounts, his view of the world doesn’t match up with the facts. We should be finding ways to strengthen Social Security and Medicare benefits, not cut them for those that can afford it the least.
Here’s Some Monday Morning Reading with Actual Fact-based Info on Social Security & Retirement
Here are two really wonderful pieces on Social Security and Retirement we highly recommend you read.My Faith-Based Retirement by Joe Nocera at the New York Times describes his all-too common personal experience with 401K?s while economist Jared Bernstein provides some desperately needed myth-busting in his Rolling Stone piece, Straight Talk on Social Security. While we don?t agree with his suggestion to move to a chained-CPI, he?s right about the need to push back on all the lies about Social Security?s fiscal health.
Busting Myths about the 2012 Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report
No doubt you’ve already seen the screaming headlines promising the immediate bankruptcy of Social Security and Medicare…it’s an annual Washington tradition tied to the release of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees report. Unfortunately, this tradition seldom stems from factual reporting of what’s actually in the trustees report. This year is no exception.To help you sort fact from fiction about the true health of Social Security and Medicare, here is our President/CEO Max Richtman’s reaction to the Trustees’ projections and some data you likely won’t see reported in this week’s news coverage:
?Projections in the 2012 Trustees Reports come as no surprise to anyone who understands how Social Security and Medicare work. The trust fund solvency date for Social Security has seen fluctuations many times in recent decades, from a depletion date as distant as 2048 in the 1988 report to as soon as 2029 in the 1994 and 1997 reports. This year?s report is well within that range. Contrary to the crisis myths perpetuated by fiscal conservatives and many in the media, the prevailing facts show once again that Social Security remains among the nation?s most successful and stable programs. The Trustees report there is now $2.7 trillion in the Social Security trust fund, which is $69 billion more than last year, and continues to grow. Payroll contributions and interest will fully cover benefits for decades to come.? Max Richtman, NCPSSM President/CEO
In the 2012 Trustees report:
- Trustees project Social Security will be able to pay full benefits until the year 2033. After that, Social Security will have sufficient revenue to pay about 75% of benefits.
- Social Security is still well funded. In 2012, with the economy showing slow signs of recovery, Social Security?s total income still exceeded its expenses by over $57 billion. In fact, the Trustees estimate that total annual income is expected to exceed program obligations until 2020.
- Beneficiaries will likely see a Cost of Living Allowance increase of 1.8% in 2013.
The 2012 Trustees report also shows Medicare?s Trust Fund solvency projection remains unchanged at 2024. This reflects the success that health care reform has had in improving Medicare?s solvency. If long-term solvency for Medicare is truly Congress? goal, then repealing health care reform is not an option as it would set back that progress immeasurably.
?The challenges facing Medicare are the same that we see in the broader health care system?the high cost of health care in America. Thanks to health care reform, Medicare will save $200 billion by 2016, but even those savings would be lost if opponents have their way and the Affordable Care Act is repealed. We must allow reform to be fully implemented in order to realize the projected savings.? Max Richtman
The National Committee believes that Congress can also improve the long-term outlook for Social Security with modest and manageable changes in revenue without enacting harmful benefit cuts for current or future retirees. Recent polling has shown that a majority of Americans support lifting the payroll tax cap to ensure Americans contribute at all income levels.