Controversy 8

1
Controversy 8

• Should Age or Need Be the Basis for Entitlement?

2
Generational equity

• Two different meanings of generation
• 1) an age specific group, such as the elderly
  or children under age 18
• Or, 2) a historical cohort consisting of a group
  of people born in the same year or in a certain
  period (e.g., those who experienced the Great
  Depression or World War II)
• Four issues underlie generational equity
• Questions about the allocation of resources
  between older adults and children
• Concerns about large government deficits
• Controversies over rationing health care
  resources
• Questions about the fairness of how Social
  Security is financed

3
Poverty Among the Old

• Over the past 30 years, there has been a large
  reduction in poverty rates among the elderly
• Although the most gains in income for people were
  in the 1960s and 1970s
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI) a cash
  benefit program for the elderly poor, blind, and
  disabled
• SSI is a means-tested program it is only
  available if your income and assets fall below a
  designated range

4
Poverty Among Children and Young People

• International comparison shows that U.S. poverty
  rates among children are higher than every other
  industrial nation in the world
• This high poverty rate may be caused by family
  structure, unemployment, and/or declining wages
• Some people also blame the declining well-being
  of children on the voting power of older adults
• Families with children today form a smaller part
  of the electorate than in the past

5
Taxation and Power

• The U.S.s tax system has far-reaching impacts on
  different age groups and cohorts
• Many tax breaks, or tax expenditures, go
  disproportionately to older people with higher
  incomes
• The elderly poor get only 2 of the benefits from
  tax breaks
• Generational accounting analyzes how government
  tax and spending policies affect different
  cohorts
• Adds up all the taxes paid to federal, state, and
  local governments over a lifetime, then subtracts
  benefits received such as Social Security,
  Medicare, and schooling
• Must distinguish between the notion of conflict
  between generations and competition for different
  public programs

6
The Least-Advantaged Older Adults

• How do we define least-advantaged among older
  adults? Possible answers include
• The entire older population
• People above a certain age
• Elders in minority ethnic groups
• Older women
• Rural or inner-city elderly
• The physically or mentally frail
• Older people who are vulnerable to abuse or
  neglect

7
The Least-Advantaged Older Adults (cont.)

• Today there are many people in their 60s and
  70s who are healthy and active
• The so-called well-derly cause some people to
  argue that disability and frailty, not
  chronological age, should be the basis of access
  to services
• Socioeconomic Status (SES) a term used by
  sociologists to describe what is often known as
  social class
• Cumulative disadvantage lower SES over the life
  course tends to produce cumulative disadvantage,
  which is perpetuated in old age

8
The Targeting Debate

• Cost-sharing an approach that combines elements
  of both means testing and taxation
• The Older Americans Act (OAA) directs the
  aging-service network to target its services to
• Individuals with the greatest economic or social
  needs, with particular attention to low-income
  minority individuals
• But there is still debate over how universal
  programs such as the OAA and Social Security can
  properly give preference to some needy groups