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Politics : Mainstream Politics and Economics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Farmboy who wrote (14264)

4/1/2012 11:31:35 PM

From: koan

Read Replies (4) | Respond to of 85487

They tried under Bush to privatize it. The Ryan plan phases out medicare for vouchers which everyone knows will not do the job for old people. The trick they use is saying people with it now are Ok, but future generations will be phased out. You know that.

The right wing has been attacking medicare and SS for a long time. They hate both programs.

SOCIAL SECURITY REDUCES PROPORTION OF ELDERLY WHO ARE
POOR FROM NEARLY ONE IN TWO TO LESS THAN ONE IN EIGHT

More than 60 Percent of Those Lifted From Poverty Are Women

View PDF file of complete report

Executive Summary

State Fact Sheets:

AL - MN
MS - WI

Appendix Tables

Social Security reduces the proportion of elderly people living in poverty from nearly one in two to fewer than one in eight, according to a new study released today of Census data. The study found that in 1997, nearly half of all elderly people — 47.6 percent — had incomes below the poverty line before receipt of Social Security benefits. After receiving Social Security benefits, only 11.9 percent remained poor.

As a result, the study said, Social Security raised out of poverty more than one in every three elderly Americans. The program lifted 11.4 million elderly people above the poverty line.

Without Social Security, the study found, 15.3 million elderly had incomes below the poverty line. After Social Security, only 3.8 million elderly did. Three-fourths of those elderly people who would have been poor without Social Security were lifted from poverty by it.

The study, "Social Security and Poverty Among the Elderly," found Social Security's effects in shrinking poverty to be most striking among elderly women. Seven million of the 11.4 million elderly people whom Social Security lifted from poverty in 1997 — more than 60 percent — were women.

Prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research and policy analysis institute in Washington, the study also includes data on a state-by-state basis on the effects of Social Security in reducing poverty among both the overall elderly population and elderly women. The state-by-state figures are based on Census data for the five years from 1993 through 1997 and mark the first time such figures have been available. The data show Social Security has a large effect in reducing poverty in every state and lifts more than one-quarter million elderly out of poverty in 14 states. (Tables of the state data are included on pages 3-4 and 7-8 of the study's executive summary.)

The study also found that Social Security has a much larger effect in reducing elderly poverty than all other government programs combined. Of the 12.9 million elderly people lifted from poverty by the full array of government benefit programs, 11.4 million — nearly 90 percent — are lifted out by Social Security.

Effects Most Pronounced on Women

Without Social Security, 52.6 percent of all elderly women were below the poverty line in 1997, the study said. Social Security reduced the poverty rate for elderly women from 52.6 percent to 14.7 percent. It reduced the number of elderly poor women from 9.8 million to 2.7 million.

Among elderly men, Social Security lowered the poverty rate from 40.8 percent to 8.2 percent. The program reduced the number of elderly men living in poverty from 5.5 million to 1.1 million.

The study explained that the Social Security benefit structure is beneficial to women in several respects. Social Security provides benefits that are fully indexed for inflation and last until a beneficiary dies; this feature is favorable to women since, on average, they live longer than men. In addition, Social Security benefits replace a higher percentage of the wages of low-wage workers than of highly paid workers. This, too, is beneficial to women since they have lower average wages than men. Finally, Social Security provides special protections for widows (and widowers), spouses whose average earnings during their working years were low because they were paid low wages or missed years of work caring for children or aging relatives, and divorced spouses who were married at least 10 years and have not remarried.

The study reported that women receive 53 percent of Social Security retirement and survivor benefits while paying 38 percent of Social Security payroll taxes. The study found Social Security cuts nearly in half the gap between the poverty rate for elderly women and the rate for elderly men.

Kathryn Porter, the study's principal author, commented that "these features of Social Security are of particular importance because elderly women receive substantially less income than elderly men do from other sources, such as earnings, pensions, and investments. Elderly women also have fewer financial assets than elderly men."

The Center's study found that more than three-fifths of all income that elderly women receive comes from Social Security. The study also reported that two-thirds of elderly women rely upon Social Security for a majority of their income, and one-third rely on it for at least 90 percent of their income. For one elderly women in five, Social Security is the sole source of income.

For elderly widows, as well as for all women 85 and over, the role of Social Security looms even larger. Three-fourths of the women in both groups receive a majority of their income from Social Security. In addition, Social Security reduces the poverty rate for both groups from more than 60 percent to about 20 percent.

The study also found that Social Security cuts poverty rates by about half or more for elderly non-Hispanic whites, elderly African Americans, and elderly Hispanic Americans.

State-by-State Effects

Social Security has strong effects in reducing poverty in all 43 states the study examined, reducing the number of elderly poor by more than 100,000 in 33 of these states. Combining Census data for each state for the five years from 1993 through 1997, the study's authors were able to examine the effects of Social Security on elderly poverty in all but the seven states (plus the District of Columbia) with the smallest elderly populations.

In California, Social Security lowered the number of elderly people living in poverty by more than one million, from 1.45 million to 421,000. Without Social Security, 43.2 percent of elderly Californians would be poor. After Social Security, 12.5 percent were.

Some 635,000 of the elderly Californians whom Social Security lifted from poverty were women. More than two of every three elderly women in California who would have been poor without Social Security were lifted from poverty by it.

Elderly Poverty Rates Before and After Social Security*

Elderly Group	Elderly Poverty Rate Before Social Security	Elderly Poverty Rate After Social Security	Number of Elderly Poor Before Social Security (in millions)	Number of Elderly Poor After Social Security (in millions)	Number of Elderly Poor Lifted from Poverty by Social Security (in millions)
All Elderly	47.6%	11.9%	15.3	3.8	11.4
Men	40.8%	8.2%	5.5	1.1	4.4
Women	52.6%	14.7%	9.8	2.7	7.0
Married Women	42.2%	4.8%	3.1	0.4	2.8
Widows	62.1%	20.3%	5.3	1.7	3.6
Other unmarried women	56.7%	27.0%	1.4	0.7	0.7
Women 65 -75	46.0%	12.7%	4.6	1.3	3.3
Women 75- 85	61.0%	16.6%	4.0	1.1	2.9
Women 85 and Over	65.3%	20.6%	1.3	0.4	0.9
* Estimates for all elderly, all elderly men, and all elderly women