Description
Book SynopsisZeldes, Columbia University.
Trade ReviewPresents a comprehensive array of writings about the economic, social, and policy issues facing the United States in maintaining a social insurance program for the elderly into the 21st century. The book covers aging policy broadly and in depth, and the text provides good explanations for the technical concepts discussed in the book. -- Peggy A. Gallup Inquiry The authors and editors have created a timely, readable, and thought provoking text. The reader is drawn into the debate and leaves hoping that our leaders use such an approach to find long-term solutions for the healthcare and retirement needs of our increasingly aging population. -- Anna Maio, M.D. Doody's Rating This important book is distinguished by its careful attention to all three major programs affording retirement security to the elderly (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid), by its admirable insistence on the need to bring both historical and international perspectives to bear on contemporary American welfare state topics, and by its balanced treatment of the political and economic dimensions of critical policy issues. -- Eric M. Patashnik Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law
Table of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1. Overview: Issues and Options for an Aging Population
Chapter 2. An International Perspective on Policies for an Aging Society
Part II: The Economic Framework
Chapter 3. Budget Estimates: What We Know, What We Can't Know, and Why It Matters
Chapter 4. Long-Run Budget Projections and Their Implications For Funding Elderly Entitlements
Chapter 5. Increased Public Spending on the Elderly: Can We Afford It?
Chapter 6. The Economic Consequences of Funding Growing Elderly Entitlements
Chapter 7. The Entitlements Crisis That Never Existed
Part III: Policy Alternatives
Chapter 8. The Case for Universal Social Insurance
Chapter 9. The Moral Imperative of Limiting Elderly Health Entitlements
Chapter 10. The Merits of Changing to Defined Contribution Programs
Chapter 11. The Case for Retaining Defined Benefit Programs
Chapter 12. Private Accounts, Prefunding, and Equity Investment Under Social Security
Chapter 13. Changing Retirement Trends and Their Impact on Elderly Entitlement Programs
Chapter 14. Aligning Incentives For a National Retirement Policy
Part IV: Political Realities
Chapter 15. Enacting Reform: What Can We Expect in the Current Political Context?
Chapter 16. The Politics of Enacting Reform
Chapter 17. The Financial Problems of the Elderly: A Holistic View
Index
