United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-12-10 monographic deposited born digital 30 p. GA 1.13:GAO-02-288T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-288T P0b002ee180373213 f:d02288t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-288T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-288T GAO-02-288T Budget administration Social security benefits Income maintenance programs Retirement benefits Disability benefits Evaluation criteria Future budget projections Medicare Program Social Security Program Disability Insurance Program Social Security Trust Fund Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Program Testimony A02554 This report discusses how best to ensure the long-term viability of our nation's Social Security program. Social Security not only represents the foundation of our retirement income system; it also provides millions of Americans with disability insurance and survivor's benefits. The system faces both solvency and sustainability challenges in the longer term. Although Social Security's Trust Funds will not be exhausted until 2038, according to the latest trustees' report's intermediate projections, the program's cash demands on the rest of the federal government will begin much sooner. Focusing on the trust fund solvency alone is not sufficient. Aiming for sustainable solvency would increase the chance that future policymakers would not have to face these difficult questions on a recurring basis. GAO has developed criteria for evaluating Social Security reform proposals: financing sustainable solvency, balancing adequacy and equity, and implementing and administering reforms. These criteria aim to balance financial and economic considerations with benefit adequacy and equity issues and the administrative challenges associated with various proposals. GAO's recent report on Social Security and income adequacy provides some specific insights on one of its criteria. First, no single measure of adequacy provides a complete picture; each measure reflects a different outlook on what adequacy means. Second, given the currently projected long-term financial shortfall of the program, it is important to compare proposals to both benefits at currently promised levels and benefits funded at current tax levels. Third, various approaches to benefit reductions, in particular, would have differing effects on adequacy. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-288T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-288T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-288T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-288T.pdf GAO-02-288T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-288T Testimony GAO-02-288T; Social Security: Issues in Evaluating Reform Proposals; Budget administration Social security benefits Income maintenance programs Retirement benefits Disability benefits Evaluation criteria Future budget projections Medicare Program Social Security Program Disability Insurance Program Social Security Trust Fund Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Program