ELF News Archives
December 2003- Try your hand at Social Security reform. Can you solve Social Security's financial problems? -
Actuaries say that unless Social Security is fixed, the system may not be able to pay full benefits after 2037. Many solutions have been proposed, but no single approach is likely to succeed alone. Here's a game that lets you decide the trade-offs and construct a solution that rings the solvency bell.
Actuary.Org 12/31
- New Social Security Proposals Promise 2004 Debate -
New Study: Faster Growth Doesn't Save Social Security; AARP Ducking Out of Social Security Debate
Cato Institute 12/22
- Health savings accounts can help handle expenses -
The Medicare reform act signed last week by President Bush will give many Americans a new tool for defraying medical costs: "health savings accounts."
Baltimore Sun 12/17
- Brazilian lawmakers pass pension reform -
The pension amendment meanwhile will reduce pensions for some former federal employees who sometimes receive retirement benefits equal to or even greater than their working salaries. It also raises the retirement age for men to 60 and 55 for women. The changes will be phased in over the next 7 years.
Washington Times 12/17
- Your guide to the Pension Credit -
Pension Credit is a new entitlement for people aged 60 or over. Introduced from October 2003, it could mean extra money for you every week. It guarantees everyone aged 60 and over an income of at least:
London Times 12/16
- "Key Questions Voters Should Ask Candidates About the Budget, Social Security and Medicare." -
"Imagine that a candidate promised to introduce legislation called 'The Social Security Do Nothing Plan.' Under this bill, promised retirement benefits would be cut by 16 percent for today's 30-year-olds, by 29 percent for today's 20-year-olds and by 35 percent for today's newborns. Alternatively, payroll taxes would suddenly go up by 34 percent in 2042. With either choice, we would still need to borrow trillions of dollars to pay benefits. How many candidates would campaign for office with such a plan? Probably none, and yet these are the consequences of doing nothing.
Cato Institute 12/12
- Estimates on Medicare hit $2 trillion -
The new Medicare prescription-drug benefit could cost as much as $2 trillion in its second decade, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said yesterday, especially if Congress fills in the coverage gaps in the current benefit.
Washington Times 12/09
- Bad medicine -
Republicans think they are so clever, having rammed through a massive expansion of the welfare state by giving drug benefits to the elderly. They co-opted the AARP--long considered to be in the pocket of the Democrats--and left the Democrats with no real domestic issue to run on.
Town Hall 12/08
- President To Ink Landmark Medicare Bill -
President Bush signs a landmark Medicare overhaul today that includes a prescription drug benefit.
The 400 billion-dollar plan culminates years of often bitterly partisan wrangling.
WBAL Radio 12/08
- Social Security Reform: Saving the system, saving grace -
Fiscal conservatives' rapidly growing dissatisfaction with the administration is no secret, with the President's strong support of the Medicare prescription drug bill that passed Congress last month leading many to question again the principles of "compassionate conservatism."
Town Hall 12/08
- Social Security This Week -
Weekly Social Security Report From the Cato Institute
Cato Institute 12/05
- Probe Sought of Alleged Medicare Bribery -
The Justice Department said Thursday it would review complaints from political watchdog groups that Republican House leaders tried to bribe Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., to vote for a Medicare bill.
Washington Post 12/05
- Social Security reform breakthrough -
Imagine what America would look like in a few years if people had the opportunity to own their own home, their own job, their own education and their own personal retirement account....the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration confirmed the feasibility of every worker's owning a substantial personal retirement account...
Town Hall 12/03
- How Individual Social Security Accounts Would Work -
Opponents of reform have already played their cards; they argue that it's impossible to manage 140 million personal accounts, let alone cost-effectively. They're wrong and here's why.
Cato Institute 12/01
Excerpted from Future of Freedom Foundation12/04
- Seniors medical care poses bias question -
Growing evidence suggests American seniors are being shortchanged by the nation's medical system.
Washington Times 12/01
Excerpted from Future of Freedom Foundation12/04