The National Academy of Social Insurance has announced the formation of a new Study Panel to examine potential changes to Medicare eligibility.
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.
April 2019
The National Academy of Social Insurance is seeking innovative ideas to address the income adequacy needs of older workers who must claim Social Security retirement benefits early, due to ill health, an inability to continue to perform physically demanding jobs, or other factors.
“Universal basic income” (UBI) has only recent 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.
In the United States, the ability to work plays a major role in having access to health insurance. Employment is now sometimes a condition for continued eligibility for some public health insurance programs, as well. In 2017, according to the U.S. Census, work provided access to employer-based private insurance for approximately 56% of Americans.
Currently, the United States provides no national social insurance programs to protect families from having to risk losing earnings to provide care or pay for expensive caregiving services. Every other advanced industrial (OECD) country provides some form of insurance for caregiving risks to ease the financial burden on working families.
For 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.
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.
We are on the cusp of a sea change in the area of work. One particular session at the Academy’s annual policy conference at the end of the month, therefore, couldn’t come at a better time.