This slide show discusses how Social Security benefits truly help those who receive them. Presented at a National Academy of Social Insurance 2012 Summer Academy session entitled Demystifying Social Security on July 11, 2012.

Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh speaks at an event entitled The Super Committee and Social Security, held by the National Academy of Social Insurance on September 16, 2011.

Slides from her presentation can be found here.

In its deliberations to develop a plan to reduce the federal deficit by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction considered a proposal to calculate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) in all government programs using the Chained Consumer Price Index-Urban (C-CPI-U), rather than the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U).

Implementing this proposal would dramatically reduce Social Security benefits for recipients. Although reducing federal program benefits by changing the COLA computation is indeed one way to reduce the deficit, reducing benefits is not the only way to eliminate the 75-year projected shortfall (of 2.2 percent of taxable payroll) for the Social Security system.

The shortfall can be closed by holding benefit levels harmless and, instead, increasing revenue directed to the system. A recent report of the Commission to Modernize Social Security Plan for A New Future: The Impact of Social Security Reform on People of Color offers recommendations for doing just that.

Read more at GlobalPolicy.tv and the Joint Center Blog.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 -- The National Council of La Raza issued the following news release:

As the United States transitions to a "majority-minority" population over the next three decades, prominent health and income security groups say the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and other members of Congress must take into account how changes to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will affect communities of color, a population that is growing and increasingly economically insecure.

Two new reports show the importance of programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to communities of color. Plan for a New Future: The Impact of Social Security Reform on Communities of Color, released by the Commission to Modernize Social Security, argues that changes to the program must consider the impact on workers and families of color who are more vulnerable to economic instability and far less likely to have generational wealth than White families. The importance of Medicaid to the Black and Latino communities, as well as the heavy burden of chronic disease borne by these groups, is documented in a detailed report, Medicaid: A Lifeline for Blacks and Latinos With Serious Health Care Needs, which was recently released by Families USA.

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"Social Security is the only source of income for two of every five African American retiree households age 65 and older," said Commission member Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh, Senior Research Associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "So any proposals to guarantee system solvency should also guarantee the adequacy of benefits going forward."

Read the full story at Insurance News.

African Americans are more likely than whites to expect that Social Security will be their major source of income during retirement. Th is was true in both 1998 (35 percent of African Americans versus 17 percent of whites) and 2009 (37 percent of African Americans versus 27 percent of whites). African Americans also are more likely than whites to support the Social Security system as currently structured and to believe that the system should continue to provide the same type and level of benefits. A range of views, however, is held by African Americans and whites on selected proposals for reforming the Social Security system to ensure its solvency.

These findings are from a survey of 850 African Americans and 850 members of the general U.S. population (including 721 white Americans) that was conducted for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies by Research America between May 21 and June 9, 2009. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies National Opinion Poll about Social Security, Retirement Savings and the Economic Downturn found many striking differences between African Americans and whites on these topics.

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As the United States transitions to a “majority-minority” population over the next three decades, Social Security must be modernized to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse and economically insecure workforce, according to a report released today by the Commission to Modernize Social Security, made up of national policy experts representing African American, Asian American, Latino and Native American communities.

Although Social Security does not contribute to the federal deficit, Social Security benefit cuts are at the center of discussions in Congress to reduce the federal debt. The report – Plan for a New Future: The Impact of Social Security Reform on People of Color – argues that changes to the program must consider the impact on workers and families of color who are more vulnerable to economic instability and far less likely to have generational wealth than white families. The report cites U.S. Census Bureau data showing that a majority of babies born in this country are now from minority racial groups. If this trend continues, the overall U.S. population is expected to become “majority-minority” by 2042.

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The Commission to Modernize Social Security was formed in March 2011 by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development and Global Policy Solutions to identify proposals to extend Social Security’s long-term solvency while modernizing the program to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse society. The Commission is comprised of individuals from the following organizations: Center for Economic and Policy Research, Demos, Economic Policy Institute, Global Policy Solutions, Harvard University Department of Government, Insight Center for Community Economic Development, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, International Association for Indigenous Aging, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Latinos for a Secure Retirement, National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc., National Council of La Raza, National Council of Negro Women, National Urban League Policy Institute, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, The Aspen Institute, and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Read more at Yahoo! News, PR Web.

In a briefing held Friday by the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), Social Security advocates said cutting seniors’ benefits to pay down the nation’s deficit would be highly destructive for current Social Security recipients and future beneficiaries.

Recently, lawmakers have suggested reforming America’s Social Security plan out of concern that it will run out of money by 2036.

Wilhelmina Leigh, Senior Research Associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, pointed to the deficit reduction plan co-authored last year by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson.

Under the proposal, the full-benefit retirement age would be increased beyond 67, the cost-of-living adjustment would be lowered for current and future beneficiaries and the formula for calculating benefits would be heavily altered.

Leigh said the proposal “will close the shortfall by cutting benefits.”

Read more at The Talk Radio News Service.

Although many African Americans depend on Social Security benefits to meet their basic needs, the value of the program to this group is often debated and sometimes misrepresented or discounted. At a time when the nation is seeking to put its financial house in order and concurrently considering reforms to guarantee the future solvency and sustainability of Social Security, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, with support from AARP, prepared this primer to spell out the facts about how Social Security's disability, survivor and retirement programs serve African Americans.

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African Americans are far more reliant on the Social Security program than many realize, and accordingly they need to take an active role in the debate over its future, according to a new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

African Americans and Social Security: A Primer, released Monday, dispels misrepresentations about African Americans – such as those supporting the belief that African Americans do not benefit from Social Security because of their shorter life expectancy.  Information in the report is intended to provide a basis for discussion as Congress considers changes to the retirement, disability and survivor benefits program as a means of addressing the nation’s fiscal woes.

Between 1997 and 2005, numerous polls were conducted to assess the views of the U.S. population about savings behavior, expected sources of retirement income, and the status of the Social Security system. This report examines findings from these polls for African Americans, white Americans, and persons of all races (combined) and makes comparisons across racial/ethnic groups as data allow. The vast majority of these polls surveyed the general population without disaggregation by race. For example, 38 polls of persons of all races (combined) conducted between 1999 and 2005 were identified that included a question about optional stock market investment by individuals to foster the solvency of the Social Security system. However, only four polls (two by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, one by AARP, and a survey series by Ariel Mutual Funds/Charles Schwab & Company, Inc.) were identified that surveyed either African Americans alone or African Americans along with other racial groups about this issue. As a result, racial comparisons cannot be made for all issues.

Despite these challenges, this analysis of public wealth-related knowledge and savings behavior reveals that many individuals do not have adequate personal savings and investments for retirement. This information powerfully demonstrates the need for social insurance, in particular for the Social Security program. In addition, knowledge gleaned from surveys about various racial/ethnic groups' views of Social Security reform proposals can help guide the development of reform proposals that address the needs and concerns of these groups. The major findings of this report are presented below.

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Date Published: April 2007