Number: RL34433
Title: Social Security Reform: Possible Effects on the Elderly Poor and Mitigation Options
Authors: Kathleen Romig, Domestic Social Policy Division 
Abstract: This report analyzes the projected effects of four possible approaches to mitigating the effects of Social Security benefit reductions on elderly poverty in 2042, the first full year of projected trust fund insolvency. The options are compared to a payable baseline, which assumes current-law benefits would need to be cut across the board to balance Social Security's annual income and spending at the point of insolvency. The four options examined are (1) a poverty-line Social Security minimum benefit; (2) a sliding-scale Social Security minimum benefit; (3) a povertyline SSI benefit; and (4) a poverty-line SSI benefit with liberalized eligibility.
Pages: 27
Date: April 8, 2008