Social security bulletin
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Social security bulletin · Nov 2002
How policy variables influence the timing of applications for Social Security Disability Insurance.
This article analyzes the impact of policy variables--employer accommodations, state Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) allowance rates, and DI benefits--on the timing of an application for DI benefits by workers with a work-limiting health condition starting when their health condition first begins to bother them. The analysis uses a rich mixture of personal and employer characteristics from the Health and Retirement Study linked to Social Security administrative records. We find that most workers do not apply immediately for DI benefits when they are first bothered by a health condition. ⋯ Allowance rates are chosen by states on the basis of federal policy and local choices and probably in part on the health condition of workers in the state. Therefore, our estimates are upper bounds of these policy effects. Still, we believe we provide evidence that the social environment faced by workers with work-limiting health conditions can significantly influence their decision to apply for DI benefits, holding their specific health conditions constant.
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Social security bulletin · Nov 2002
Comparative StudyThe Canada Pension Plan's experience with investing its portfolio in equities.
For the past few years, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) has been investing some of its assets in equities. Without changes, an imbalance between revenues and outlays would exhaust the CPP reserve fund by 2015. Creating an entity that was independent of government was one of several changes the federal and provincial governments enacted to achieve fuller funding. ⋯ The investment legislation subjects the board to overlapping layers of oversight to ensure accountability to the public. The features of this oversight include public meetings in each province as well as quarterly statements and annual reports to Parliament, the federal and provincial finance ministers, and the public. The 10 finance ministers review the CPPIB's mandate and regulations every 3 years, and the CPPIB is subject to a special examination every 6 years by an auditor appointed by the Federal Minister of Finance.
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Social security bulletin · Jan 2000
Lifetime earnings patterns, the distribution of future Social Security benefits, and the impact of pension reform.
In order to assess the effect of Social Security reform on current and future workers, it is essential to accurately characterize the initial situations of representative workers affected by reform. For the purpose of analyzing typical reforms, the most important characteristic of a worker is the level and pattern of his or her preretirement earnings. Under the current system, pensions are determined largely by the level of the workers' earnings averaged over their work life. ⋯ Finally, the stylized earnings patterns can be used to compare benefit levels enjoyed by workers under the traditional Social Security formula and under an alternative plan based on individual investment accounts. That comparison shows, as expected, that the traditional formula favors low-wage workers and one-earner couples, while an investment account favors single, high-wage workers. Comparing two workers with the same lifetime average earnings, the traditional formula favors workers with rising earnings profiles (that is, with lifetime earnings heavily concentrated at the end of their career), while investment account pensions favor workers with declining earnings profiles (that is, with earnings concentrated early in their career).
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Social security bulletin · Jan 2000
Eligibility for the Medicare buy-in programs, based on a survey of income and program participation simulation.
Medicare buy-in programs are designed to reduce out-of-pocket expenses of beneficiaries with modest income and assets. This article provides estimates of the size of the Medicare beneficiary population eligible for the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program, the Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB) program, and the Qualified Individual-1 (QI-1) program. The buy-in programs use the same resource limits (twice those used in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program) but different thresholds for determining income eligibility. ⋯ Our estimates imply that about 2.5 million noninstitutionalized individuals were eligible for but not enrolled in the QMB and SLMB programs in 1999. That finding suggests that fewer eligibles may be available for targeting by outreach efforts than was previously believed. Outreach may be more difficult than it would be with a larger eligible population. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)
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Benefit payments under workers' compensation programs in the United States during 1992-93 stabilized in comparison with the experience of prior years, which had been marked by substantial growth. In 1992, the total benefit amount of $44.7 billion was 5.9 percent higher than the amount in 1991. The 1993 benefit amount of $42.9 billion represented a 3.9 percent decrease from the amount in 1992. ⋯ The cost of protection per covered employee was $597 in 1993, equal to $2.30 per $100 of payroll. In the same year, there were 96.1 million workers covered under Federal and State programs. This article examines 1992-93 program experience in terms of benefits, costs, and the components of change.