Retirement Security
The retirement income system will come under increasing stress in the years ahead, with Social Security facing a modest shortfall over the next 75 years, Disability Insurance facing insolvency by 2016, and employers increasingly replacing traditional defined-benefit pension plans with defined-contribution plans. In addition, tax incentives for retirement saving are poorly targeted. Policy Futures works to improve retirement income security for low- and moderate-income Americans.
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Promoting Work Among Disability Beneficiaries
Speaking at today’s release of recommendations by the SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) Solutions Initiative, I explained that while policymakers should continue exploring ways to help...
A New Way to Treat Social Security Beneficiaries with Work Outside the System
Congress is considering a new way to compute Social Security benefits for beneficiaries with earnings outside the Social Security system. The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing...
Demonstrations to Promote Work Among Disability Beneficiaries Likely to Produce Limited Results
The Social Security Administration has conducted many work-incentive experiments over the past 25 years, and none has led to a significant number of beneficiaries earning enough to support themselves...
Bernstein, Batchelder to Democratic Leaders: Don’t Block Conflict-of-Interest Rule
In a letter to House and Senate Minority Leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, CBPP Senior Fellow Jared Bernstein and New York University Law School Professor Lily Batchelder urge them to oppose...
Supplemental Security Income: An Important Anti-Poverty Program
The poverty rate among Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients in 2013 would have been 63 percent without SSI, as opposed to the actual rate of 42 percent with it, a recent Social Security...
Addressing Key Misconceptions About Social Security
Social Security is one of the nation’s most successful, effective, and popular programs. Most Americans, both young and old, value Social Security and say they don’t mind paying for it. Indeed,...
The Realities of Work for Individuals with Disabilities: Impact of Age, Education, and Work Experience
The Social Security Administration is inviting comments on the criteria it uses to evaluate whether the 2.5 million people who apply for DI each year meet the strict definition of disability in the...
Budget Agreement Closes Social Security Loopholes
November 4, 2015: We have updated this post to reflect new information from the Social Security Administration.
Among its laudable features, the new budget agreement closes two Social...
Automatic Enrollment in Private Disability Insurance
Researchers and policymakers have begun to examine the role that private disability insurance (PDI) might play in helping workers with chronic conditions and severe impairments remain at or return to...
Criticism of Conflict-of-Interest Rule for Financial Advisers Misses Mark
At CBPP Senior Fellow Jared Bernstein’s On the Economy blog, he and New York University Law School professor Lily Batchelder respond to criticism of a proposal designed to ensure that financial...