[Budget of the United States Government]
[V. Investing in the Common Good: Program Performance in Federal Functions]
[24. Social Security]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


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                          24.  SOCIAL SECURITY

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                          Table 24-1.  Federal Resources in Support of Social Security
                                            (In millions of dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                               Estimate
               Function 650                   1999   -----------------------------------------------------------
                                             Actual     2000      2001      2002      2003      2004      2005
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spending:
  Discretionary Budget Authority..........     3,156     3,175     3,451     3,452     3,492     3,580     3,658
  Mandatory Outlays:
    Existing law..........................   386,991   403,332   422,167   442,982   465,299   489,685   516,232
    Proposed legislation..................  ........  ........  ........        64       113       144       153
Tax Expenditures:
  Existing law............................    23,300    24,505    25,765    27,295    28,990    30,760    23,290
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  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) programs, 
commonly known as Social Security, are crucial to the economic well-
being of tens of millions of Americans. Social Security will spend $426 
billion in 2001 to provide 45 million beneficiaries with comprehensive 
protection against loss of income due to the retirement, disability or 
death of a wage earner.
  Social Security provides monthly benefits to retired and disabled 
workers who gain insured status and to their eligible spouses, children, 
and survivors. The Social Security Act of 1935 provided retirement 
benefits, and the 1939 amendments provided benefits for survivors and 
dependents. These benefits now comprise the Old Age and Survivors 
Insurance (OASI) program. Congress provided benefits for disabled 
workers by enacting the Disability Insurance (DI) program in 1956 and 
added benefits for the dependents of disabled workers in 1958. Nearly 
one third of Social Security beneficiaries are disabled workers and 
their families, or survivors of deceased workers (see Table 24-2).
  DI provides income security for workers and their families when 
workers lose their capacity to work due to disability. Before DI, 
workers often had no such protection, although in some cases employees 
whose injuries were job-related may have received State worker's 
compensation benefits. Congress enacted DI to protect the resources, 
self-reliance, and self-respect of those suffering from non-work-related 
disabilities. DI protection can be extremely valuable, especially for 
young families who are unable to sufficiently protect themselves against 
the risk of the worker's disability.
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------

           Table 24-2.  Millions Benefit from Social Security
                   (Thousands of OASDI Beneficiaries)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  2001
                                                                Estimate
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retired workers and families:
  Retired workers.............................................    28,174
  Wives and husbands..........................................     2,797
  Children....................................................       442

Survivors of deceased workers:
  Children....................................................     1,899
  Widowed mothers and fathers with child beneficiaries in            202
   their care.................................................
  Aged widows and widowers, and dependent parents.............     4,799
  Disabled widows and widowers................................       194

Disabled workers and families:
  Disabled workers............................................     5,158
  Wives and husbands..........................................       172
  Children....................................................     1,496
                                                               ---------
Total.........................................................    45,333
------------------------------------------------------------------------

   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  The Government will collect $508 billion in Social Security taxes in 
2001. These taxes will be credited to the OASI and DI trust funds, along 
with $68 billion of interest on Treasury securities held by the trust 
funds.
  In 1999, Social Security paid out a total of $383 billion to more than 
44 million beneficiaries. These payments included $257 billion in 
benefits to 31 million retired workers and their families and about $75 
billion in benefits to seven million survivors of deceased workers. 
Through the DI program, Social Security paid $50 billion in benefits to 
more than six million disabled workers and their families.
  Many beneficiaries would face a high risk of poverty without the 
income protection provided by Social Security. When President Roosevelt 
signed Social Security into law, most seniors were poor. Since then, 
Social Security benefits have significantly improved the well-being of 
the Nation. The poverty

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rate among the elderly declined from 29.5 percent in 1967 to 10.5 
percent in 1998, in large part due to Social Security.
  Social Security was founded on two important principles: social 
adequacy and individual equity. Social adequacy means that benefits will 
provide a certain standard of living for all contributors. Individual 
equity means that contributors receive benefits directly related to the 
amount of their contributions. These principles still guide Social 
Security today.
  Before Social Security, about half of those over 65 depended on 
others, primarily relatives and friends, for all of their income. The 
same was often true for people with disabilities. Today, nearly two 
thirds of those over age 65 get at least half of their income from 
Social Security (see Chart 24-1). Social Security benefits account for 
38 percent of all income that goes to the elderly population. For an 
average-wage worker retiring in 1999, Social Security replaced about 40 
percent of his or her pre-retirement earnings. With Social Security, the 
vast majority of those over age 65 and those with disabilities can live 
relatively independent lives. Moreover, their families no longer carry 
the sole responsibility of providing their financial support.

                                     


  Social Security is especially important for women, who make up nearly 
60 percent of all Social Security beneficiaries, and 72 percent of all 
beneficiaries over age 85. Many women beneficiaries are entitled as 
spouses of retirees or survivors of deceased workers. Social Security 
plays a larger role in women's retirement income than men's in part 
because women live longer on average, and the inflation-indexing of 
Social Security benefits protects their buying power over time. Women 
also tend to have lower lifetime earnings than men, and the progressive 
nature of the Social Security benefit formula enhances the role of these 
benefits in women's retirement income. Finally, women are less likely 
than men to retire with private pensions. While the differences between 
men's and women's work patterns and earnings are expected to shrink in 
the next few decades, they are not expected to disappear entirely. For 
all of these reasons, Social Security makes up a larger share of 
retirement income for women than it does for men, and women are more 
likely to rely on Social Security for all of their retirement income 
(see Table 24-3).
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                          Table 24-3.  Social Security is Crucial to Retirement Income
          (Percentage of those over age 65 who relied on Social Security for their entire income, 1996)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                              Social Security is
                                                                                              sole income source
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Unmarried women............................................................................                25%
Unmarried men...............................................................................                20%
Married couples.............................................................................                 9%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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The Long-Range Challenge

  Social Security is designed to be self-financed; its most important 
revenue source is the payroll tax. Right now, the Social Security trust 
funds are expected to run a cash surplus until 2014. Current economic 
and demographic forecasts indicate, however,

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that cash revenues will fall short of expenditures after that time, and 
the trust funds will exhaust their assets in 2034 unless corrective 
action is taken. After 2034, payroll taxes are projected to cover 71 
percent of benefits. Social Security is largely ``pay-as-you-go,'' 
meaning current retirement benefits are financed by current payroll 
contributions. However, pressure on the financing system is growing due 
to two demographic factors: members of the baby boom and subsequent 
generations are having fewer children and are predicted to have longer 
life spans than previous generations. The consequence of these trends is 
that the ratio of workers paying into the system for each beneficiary 
will decline--from 3.4 workers per beneficiary in 2000 to a projected 
two workers per beneficiary in 2034 (see Chart 24-2). Another source of 
pressure on the trust funds is the rapid growth of the DI program, which 
is expected to accelerate as baby boomers reach the age at which they 
are increasingly prone to disabilities.

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  The President proposes to ensure the long-range viability of Social 
Security through a combination of bipartisan reforms and by transferring 
new resources to the Social Security trust funds. For further discussion 
of the long-range issues facing Social Security and the President's plan 
for addressing them, see Section III, ``Sustaining Our Economic 
Prosperity.''

                                     


Social Security Administration (SSA)

  To operate a program of this magnitude, both in terms of the dollar 
amounts involved and the size of the population served, requires an 
efficient and responsive administrative structure. SSA, which 
administers the OASI and DI programs, touches the lives of millions of 
Americans every year. SSA also runs the Supplemental Security Income 
(SSI) program for low-income aged and disabled individuals, which is 
part of the Income Security function (see Chapter 23). In addition, the 
agency provides services that support the Medicare program on behalf of 
the Health Care Financing Administration, which is part of the Medicare 
function (see Chapter 22).
  SSA undertakes a variety of activities in administering its programs. 
These activities include issuing Social Security numbers, maintaining 
earnings records for wage earners and self-employed individuals, taking 
claims for benefits and determining eligibility, updating beneficiary 
eligibility information, educating the public about the programs, 
combating fraud, and conducting research, policy analysis and program 
evaluation. These activities are largely integrated across the various 
programs, allowing the agency to minimize duplication of effort and 
provide one-stop service to customers. SSA has also undertaken 
significant automation initiatives, which has enabled the agency to 
handle growing workloads even as its full-time equivalent staff declined 
by 19,000 between 1983 and 2000.

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  SSA has consistently earned high marks for management of its programs. 
In 1999, SSA earned an overall ``A'' grade in a comprehensive study of 
government management conducted by the Maxwell School of Citizenship and 
Public Affairs at Syracuse University and Government Executive magazine. 
The study graded all 50 State governments and 15 Federal agencies on the 
management systems critical to effective public service. SSA was awarded 
the highest marks among Federal agencies surveyed.
  SSA's Performance Plan for 2001 includes a number of performance 
indicators that reflect the agency's goals of responsive programs, good 
customer service, efficiency and program integrity, and strengthening 
public understanding of Social Security. Like the agency's 
administrative activities, these goals cut across programs. SSA's broad 
goals and related performance measures for 2001 are described below.

  Promoting responsive programs: SSA recognizes that its programs must 
reflect the interests of beneficiaries and society as a whole. Programs 
must evolve to reflect changes in the economy, demographics, technology, 
medicine, and other areas. Many DI and SSI beneficiaries with 
disabilities, for example, want to be independent and work. Many of them 
can work, despite their impairments, if they receive the support they 
need. Yet less than one percent of disabled beneficiaries in any given 
year actually leave SSA's programs due to work. One of SSA's strategic 
objectives is to shape the disability program in a manner that increases 
self-sufficiency.
  In 2001, the number of DI beneficiaries entering a trial work 
          period will increase to 19,200, which is 20 percent more than 
          the 1997 baseline of 16,000.
  Last year, the President's budget included, and Congress enacted, the 
Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act to help disabled 
beneficiaries enter or re-enter the workforce. This new law expands 
beneficiaries' choice of employment service providers, allows persons 
with disabilities to keep or obtain Federal health benefits when they 
enter, re-enter, or remain in the workforce, and authorizes SSA to carry 
out demonstration projects to identify effective ways to help DI 
beneficiaries return to work. SSA began implementation of the new law in 
2000, and the budget includes funding to continue and build on these 
activities in 2001.

  Improving customer service delivery: Roughly three-quarters of SSA's 
total administrative budget is devoted to the day-to-day work generated 
by requests for service from the general public. Much of this work takes 
the form of determining eligibility for benefits. The time required to 
process benefit claims is affected by the design of the eligibility 
determination procedure, as well as by the level of resources earmarked 
for claims-processing activities and the number of claims received.
  In 2001, the average processing time for initial disability 
          claims will be 117 days, an increase from an estimated 104 
          days in 1999.
  Improving SSA's disability claims process is one of the 
Administration's Priority Management Objectives for 2001. SSA is 
operating a streamlined disability eligibility determination process on 
a prototype basis in 10 States. In the prototype, SSA eliminated a 
repetitive second step in the process and used the resulting 
administrative savings to improve the initial step of the process.
  While initial claims are expected to take a little longer in the new 
process, the elimination of the second step will substantially shorten 
the overall process for most claimants. The accuracy rate of initial 
decisions is also expected to improve. SSA's Office of Hearings and 
Appeals is also implementing changes to improve efficiency and reduce 
case processing times.
   In 2001, the average processing time for all types of 
          hearings will be 208 days, down from 316 days in 1999.
  In combination, the changes at the initial and hearings stages are 
expected to improve service and decision accuracy, and reduce overall 
processing times for disability claimants. Because the new disability 
claims process will not be fully implemented in 2001, further 
improvements in agency performance are expected in future years.

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  SSA will maintain its current performance level of processing 
          83 percent of OASI claims by the time the first regular 
          payment is due or within 14 days from the effective filing 
          date, if later.
  SSA will ensure that callers gain access to the toll-free 800 
          number within five minutes of their first call 92 percent of 
          the time, which is equivalent to the projected access rate for 
          2000.

  Increasing operational efficiency and program integrity: The budget 
includes approximately $1.7 billion for activities undertaken by SSA to 
ensure the integrity of records and payments. These activities include 
reviewing claimants' eligibility for continued benefits, collecting 
debt, detecting overpayments, and investigating and deterring fraud.
  In 2001, SSA will maintain its current performance level of a 
          99.8 percent accuracy rate for OASI payments.
   SSA is in the midst of a seven-year plan to eliminate the backlog of 
Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) that built up prior to 1996. SSA 
expects to complete 63 percent of its plan by the end of 2000. This 
concentrated effort helps increase public confidence in the integrity of 
SSA's disability programs by ensuring that only people who continue to 
be disabled receive benefits. Over the life of the plan, SSA expects to 
realize program savings of about $6 for each $1 spent conducting CDRs. 
The budget includes the funds necessary to keep the plan on schedule.
  By the end of 2001, SSA will have completed 83 percent of its 
          plan for eliminating the backlog of Continuing Disability 
          Reviews. SSA expects to eliminate the backlog entirely in 
          2002.

  Strengthening public understanding of Social Security programs: The 
budget includes more than $100 million for the development, production 
and distribution of products to educate the public about Social Security 
benefits and Social Security's larger impact on society. SSA conducts an 
annual survey to measure public understanding of Social Security 
programs and issues and undertakes a variety of activities to increase 
public awareness.
   In 2001, 70 percent of the public will be knowledgeable about 
          Social Security programs, an increase of 15 percentage points 
          above the 1999 baseline of 55 percent.

Tax Expenditures

  Social Security recipients pay taxes on their Social Security benefits 
only when their overall income, including Social Security, exceeds 
certain income thresholds. The exclusion of Social Security income below 
these thresholds reduces total income tax revenue by $26 billion in 2001 
and $136 billion from 2001 through 2005.
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