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Thinking about Retirement?
Social Security: Americans Agree VIDEO
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Have you seen ”Social Security: Americans Agree?“ Click here to learn more.
Social Security: Just the Facts Video
Have you seen, “Social Security: Just the Facts?” Click here to learn more.
COVERED: a week-by-week look at the political and legislative developments that led to the creation of Medicare and Medicaid 50 years ago. Bob Rosenblatt, Academy senior fellow and former Los Angeles Times Washington correspondent will report on the people and the maneuvers that led to this major expansion of social insurance.
2019 Discussion Archive
Addressing Social Security's Long-Range Financial Stability
Significant proposals to enhance Social Security’s long-range financial stability are emerging from a variety of sources. Although there was only one mention of Social Security during the first round of Democratic Presidential debates in June, it is likely to get much more attention from candidates in the coming months.
Recently, I attended the annual Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s Fiscal Summit in DC. (The Peterson Foundation has been a long-time supporter of the Academy’s work.)
Read More…Strengthening Social Insurance: The Role of Policy Innovation Challenges
The National Academy of Social Insurance and AARP will soon be announcing the winners of the 2019 Social Security Policy Innovations Challenge: Ensuring Adequacy for Workers. Through this Challenge, we will identify 3-5 feasible policy proposals that specifically address the income adequacy needs of older workers, who must claim Social Security retirement benefits before their full retirement age due to ill health, an inability to continue to perform physically demanding jobs, or other factors. (This 2019 Challenge in some ways builds on past crowdsourcing efforts the Academy has led over the past decade. As discussed further below, the Academy’s Challenges have produced a range of feasible ideas and policy proposals for strengthening Social Security.)
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Socialism or Social Insurance?
The political air is charged these days with claims that various policy ideas, like Medicare-For-All and the Green New Deal, are “socialistic.” Such charges have been made in American history since the late 19th century, often in response to bold new policy concepts put forward to address gaps in income and health care security. This leads us to revisit a fundamental question – what differentiates Socialism from Social Insurance?
Social Insurance as Collective Action
In the words of Robert M. Ball, Founding Chair of our Academy: “Social insurance derives its unique strength from the principle that the best form of self-protection is mutual aid on a universal scale; when everyone contributes, everyone can be protected.” Academy Member and historian Edward D. Berkowitz also quotes Bob Ball:
Read More…In Memoriam: Alice Rivlin
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(Alice Rivlin receives the 2013 Ball Award with then Board Chair, Lisa Mensah)
With deep sadness, we learned of the passing of Alice Rivlin, a Founding Member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, and recipient of the 2013 Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance.
(Alice Rivlin with her family at the 2013 Ball Award)
Read More…Taxes, Contributions, and Social Insurance
With most Americans focused on taxes this month, it’s a good time to take a look at the relationship between federal income taxes and social insurance contributions.
Overview of Federal Taxes and Distributional Effects
The latest report by the Joint Committee on Taxation, Overview of the Federal Tax System As In Effect for 2019, provides a comprehensive starting point. This report breaks out the current federal tax system into four elements:
Read More…Key Takeaways from the Regenerating Social Insurance for Millennials and the Millennium Conference
Regenerating Social Insurance for Millennials and the Millennium: Lessons Learned
The Academy’s 31st annual policy conference – Regenerating Social Insurance for Millennials and the Millennium – was by all measures a success. It represented a different approach to one of the Academy’s signature events in both style and substance.
Read More…Assured Income as a Mechanism to Promote Economic Security
“Universal basic income” (UBI) has only recently come into popular usage, but the idea of assuring a base level of income to all is not new. Social insurance programs have been performing a similar function for much of the last century. Social Security and Unemployment Insurance both provide a base level of income given one’s eligibility for receiving benefits. The latter part of the statement is, of course, a defining characteristic of traditional social insurance—eligibility is contingent on one’s paying in.
Social Security Across the Lifespan: Addressing Misconceptions among Young People
Achieving Access to Health Care Coverage and Services to Promote Economic Security and Ability to Participate in Work
“The first wealth is health.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson offered this observation in The Conduct of Life published in 1860, and the statement remains centrally true to the human condition today. The simple sentence belies the range of factors that have an impact on the health of individuals and populations, including the social insurance and other public policies that affect the ability to maintain health insurance and to obtain access to necessary health care services on a consistent basis throughout the lifespan. Good health is essential to the ability of people to participate effectively in education, productive work, recreation, and civic and community life. The current political and economic environment presents several threats as well as opportunities for ensuring access to health care across the generations.
Read More…Universal Family Care to Support Workers and Families
At some point in our lives, almost everyone faces the challenge of either needing to receive care or provide care to others. This could be due to the birth or adoption of child, caring for a family member, affording early childhood care and education, stopping work due to your own serious health condition, or either you or a loved one needing long-term services and supports. For many individuals and families, these caregiving responsibilities and expenses can be a tremendous financial burden.
Furloughed Federal Workers and Unemployment Insurance
Among the many headlines in coverage of the government shutdown: “The government shutdown spotlights a bigger issue: 78% of U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck.”
For the roughly 800,000 furloughed federal workers, the partial shutdown began on December 22, 2018. These federal workers missed their first biweekly paycheck on January 11, 2019. If the shutdown continues, they will miss a second paycheck on January 25 and possibly future paychecks until the shutdown ends. Until January 16, when legislation was enacted guaranteeing that federal workers would receive back-pay upon the government’s reopening, these workers also faced over three weeks of uncertainty as to whether they would ever be paid for the shutdown period.
Read More…One of the Top Challenges Facing the Academy
For all of us who are dedicated to the Academy’s mission – “increasing public understanding of how social insurance contributes to economic security” – 2019 has the makings of a challenging year.
One of the top challenges facing us as we begin a new year is to develop and refine a common language that connects with the public at large. When distraction, detraction, and discord seem so prevalent in the nation’s political discourse, we need new ways to refocus the conversation on unifying issues that matter most to many. When it comes to providing greater economic security and reducing inequality in our nation, we need to reframe how we discuss social insurance, so that its enduring value as shared protection will be communicated more effectively.
If we were to measure the American people’s current understanding of social insurance, what might we find?
Read More…Life Interrupted: The Struggles and Triumphs of Millennial Family Caregivers
We know the clichés for Millennials. And, for that matter, younger adults of any generation.
Or maybe they’re more assumptions, images we conjure in our heads: a younger person getting out of school, hopefully entering the workforce, and enjoying a nice social life of friends and possibly dating, pastimes (exercise, ballgames, music, etc.), maybe even some trips to exciting destinations.
Life is simple as a young adult. Life is mostly about “me.”
Read More…How Work is Changing—and What it Means for Workers and Social Insurance
Ramsey L. Alwin is the Director of Thought Leadership for Financial Resilience in the Office of Policy, Research, and International Affairs at AARP. Alwin’s work focuses on longevity trends and economic security issues, especially as they relate to older adults.
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