Briefing Book

White House Conference

National Empowerment Ct. 599 Canal Street, Lawrence, MA 01840 PHONE: 1-800-POWER-2-U TTY: 1-800-TTY-POWER FAX: 978-681-6426 WEBSITE: www.power2u.org Viewpoint on Social Security Reform By Daniel B. Fisher, MD, PhD Executive Director, National Empowerment Ct. We are at a historic cross roads. The debate regarding Social Security Reform is really a debate regarding the type of society we see for the 21st Century. Do we consider ourselves all members of one society and one community with a common purpose or do we see ourselves as a collection of individuals each looking after our individual survival. For over 60 years Social Security has kept the promise of a minimal level of financial security for all Americans. It has been the cornerstone of American's sense of community. I am concerned that privatization of Social Security through the creation of individual retirement accounts would decrease the benefits distributed to people of low income, women, and people with disabilities. A shift towards a defined contribution to retirement accounts as opposed to defined guaranteed benefits would most severely affect people with disabilities, minor children whose working parent has died, widowed spouses to name a few. It would mean that these groups would receive lowered benefits. In addition, the benefits would not include a COLA and they would be less secure. People with disabilities are not able to pay into Social Security an amount equivalent to the benefit they need to survive on. The present system adjusts for this lower contribution by sharing some of the contributions made by able-workers and higher-income workers. If we diverted significant percentage of contributions by higher income workers into individual accounts there would be less money available. Therefore, it is not in the interests of people with disabilities, people who could suffer a disability, women, surviving children or widows to have Social Security privatized through a shift to individual retirement accounts. Indeed, when one considers the societal costs associated with the return to institutional care which would result in lowered benefits to people with disabilities, the cost of privatization is great. An alternative means of improving the solvency of Social Security is to reduce the barriers to people with disabilities returning to work. The Administration's proposal in the upcoming budget year to make health insurance available to people who are working while disabled would help greatly in this regard. The President's proposal would help people with episodic illnesses such as mental illness, AIDS etc. return to work by giving them an opportunity to stay on Medicare or Medicaid even after they return to work. Since loss of health insurance upon return to work is a major barrier for people who are recovering from a disability, this proposal would greatly assist people returning to work. In so doing, it would shift people from the role of benefitee to contributor to Social Security, thereby improving solvency.