Description: General Session VI

Description: The widening gap in life span between high- and low-income Americans may be eroding the progressivity of Social Security retirement benefits. Differential longevity trends have had the effect of raising lifetime benefits for high earners but not for low earners. Social Security’s long-term financial problems result in part from an increase in average life expectancy driven by wealthier people living longer, and, thereby, collecting more benefits. Policymakers should not use funding shortfalls attributable to these trends as an excuse to cut monthly benefits alike for those who have gained (high earners) and for those who haven’t (low earners).

Description: This article compares various Social Security reform proposals and offers a framework for viewing proposals that provides an analysis of the options on the basis of specific sets of principles and assumptions. From: The Actuary, September 1999 – volume 33 - Issue 7.

Description: This paper suggests that a mixture of pay-as-you-go and reserve financing would help Taiwan's troubled social security program. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 2009, Vol 2.

Description: Summary of discussions from various panelists on the topic of Social Security. They looked at recent developments with respect to general legislation expanding coverage, discussion of the Constitutional issues with respect to Social Security, developing experience of the new Canadian old-age pension plan, inadequacy of the funding levels relative to promised benefits for both the Canadian old-age plan and US Social Security.

Description: Discover an introduction to decomposing differences in life expectancy by age and cause of death. Take a look into demographic techniques that decompose life expectancies at birth and older ages into the portions contributed by later age groups and causes of death-. These have been in existence for some time and provide a convenient device for analyzing mortality change over time as well as differences between sexes, countries, and ethnic groups. The methods will be described and illustrated by spreadsheet examples.

Description: "Population Aging, Global Climate Change and Social Security – Sally Shen, Research Associate, Global Risk Institute, John A. Turner, Ph.D., Director, Pension PolicyClimate Change and Mortality Time for Actuaries to Pay Attention – Sam Gutterman. FSA, CERA, FCAS, FCA, HONFIA, MAAA"

Description: This is an introduction to the SOA call for essays around risk strategies pertaining to the diverse risks found in retirement. We are pleased that these essays can be included in this issue of Pension Section News, along with a short interview with each author.

Description: Recently, the SCAN Foundation, AARP, LeadingAge, and HHS funded economic modeling conducted by Milliman and the Urban Institute around LTC reform elements. The LTC industry has over the years also generated ideas to address the on-coming expansion of LTC needs in the U.S. For this article, we have brought together three individuals who have long involvement with LTC financing to discuss some of the recent ideas and provide some perspectives on their pluses and minuses.

Description: "Informal caregiving is far more costly than many people realize. And not just in the immediate future. Current demographic trends suggest that caregiving will become even more necessary and costly as the Baby Boomers continue to age and require more support and services. In 2022, the SOA engaged Milliman, Inc. to conduct an analysis of the need for informal caregiving and its impacts on employees, employers, and other stakeholders. The purpose of this research was to educate stakeholders, policymakers, and other interested parties on the realm of informal caregiving, as well as how the challenges associated with providing informal care of all kinds might be addressed. Discover key findings and themes from the research project, as well as stories highlighting the various forms this role can take, and solutions currently being developed around the country. An open discussion on ways our profession can impact this growing need with the work we do every day in our respective roles will also be included."