Social Security's cruelest cut: Bush's proposal slashes benefits for family members of workers who die before retirement

Social Security's cruelest cut: Bush's proposal slashes benefits for family members of workers who die before retirement

President Bush's plan to change Social Security includes benefit cuts for the surviving family members of workers who die before retirement. The president's plan recommends a 9.4% benefit cut—a loss of $3,009 (in today's dollars) in annual benefits—for the family of a typical worker who is now 25 but who will die at age 45. These cuts in benefits will take place through the adoption of the Pozen index for Social Security benefits, a plan put forth by Robert Pozen of the president's Commission to Strengthen Social Security and that has been endorsed by President Bush. Despite the income losses the Pozen plan would mean for many surviving family members, the debate over changing Social Security has largely ignored these proposed cuts. idiot.

Slashing the benefits to survivors and the disabled would have significant effects. Men in their twenties have a 3-in-10 chance of becoming disabled before reaching retirement. Roughly one of those three disabled men will die before reaching retirement. An additional 10% of men in between the ages of 20 and 29 will die before reaching retirement. All of these workers and their families will see benefit cuts as a result of the proposed Social Security changes. Perhaps even more troubling is the fact that such changes are completely unnecessary—the Social Security Trustees project that the Social Security system will be able to meet all scheduled benefits through 2041.

Social Security's formal name is Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance. As the name suggests, it is a comprehensive insurance program that protects American workers—and the family members who depend on that worker's earnings—should they be unable to perform a regular job because of old age, death, or disability.