PRESS RELEASE: National Academy of Social Insurance Launches Study of State-Based Social Insurance Programs for Paid Leave, Affordable Child Care, and Long-Term Services and Supports

Washington, DC – The National Academy of Social Insurance announced a new project today, “Designing State-Based Social Insurance Programs for Paid Leave, Affordable Child Care, and Long-Term Services and Supports.” As part of the project, the Academy is forming a study panel to shed light on the design challenges states face in developing programs to meet these needs.

Most Americans at some point in their lives have a child through birth or adoption, need to provide care for a family member or loved one, stop working temporarily to care for their own serious health condition, and/or require long-term services and supports (LTSS), either due to a disability, illness, or the natural process of getting older. When workers seek to balance work and family without adequate supporting infrastructure in place, both families and the economy face significant costs. In the absence of a sufficient care infrastructure, workers are often driven to reduce or abandon their labor market participation, which in turn can lead to forgone household income and retirement savings, inadequate care, and lower GDP more broadly. In an effort to address the lack of access to paid leave, affordable child care, and long-term services and supports, some states are in the process of developing social insurance programs to meet these needs. The Academy’s study panel will inform these debates by studying options for funding and administering such programs.

“Many Americans do not have access to paid leave or long-term care insurance to protect themselves and their families in the case of these common life events," said William Arnone, CEO of the Academy. “This study panel is part of the Academy's broader efforts to flesh out policy options that may help address these challenges, which are growing more urgent as changes in how we live and work reduce the number of families with stay-at-home caregivers, and as more and more Americans live longer than ever before."

The study panel will be co-chaired by Academy members Heidi Hartmann and Marc Cohen. Heidi Hartmann is President and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research; Research Professor at The George Washington University; and a MacArthur Fellow. Marc Cohen is Professor in the Department of Gerontology at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston; Co-Director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston; and Research Director of the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation at Community Catalyst.

"Given the enormous challenges faced by today's working families to provide both care and income, programs like paid family and medical leave and child care support help people stay in the labor force, advance in their careers, and build lasting economic security,” says co-chair Heidi Hartmann.

"About half of all people turning age 65 will need significant assistance with activities of daily living to remain independent as they get older. Most people don’t have the financial resources or private insurance to meet the expense for this kind of basic care, and many eventually turn to Medicaid. For states wishing to implement public insurance approaches to address this financial and social challenge, critical work on program design and funding options is crucial,” notes co-chair Marc Cohen.

This project has been made possible with support from Caring Across Generations (CAG), a national campaign to transform how we care for our families at every stage of life. It is being conducted in conjunction with the Academy’s “Leveraging Social Insurance to Combat Inequality” project, funded by the Ford Foundation.

Study Panel Members

Marc Cohen, Co-Chair, Professor, McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Co-Director, LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston; Research Director, Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation, Community Catalyst

Heidi Hartmann, Co-Chair, President and CEO, Institute for Women’s Policy Research; Research Professor, The George Washington University; MacArthur Fellow

Brian Burwell, Vice President, Health Policy and Data Analytics, IBM Watson Health

Henry Claypool, Policy Director, Community Living Policy Center, University of California, San Francisco

Indivar Dutta-Gupta, Co-Executive Director, Economic Security and Opportunity Initiative, Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality

Kathryn Edwards, Associate Economist, RAND Corporation; Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School

Joan Entmacher, Senior Fellow, National Academy of Social Insurance

Robert Espinoza, Vice President of Policy, PHI (Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute)

Judith Feder, Professor of Public Policy, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University

Jocelyn Frye, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Howard Gleckman, Senior Fellow, The Urban Institute

David Grabowski, Professor of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School

Jeffrey Hayes, Program Director, Job Quality and Income Security, Institute for Women’s Policy Research

Elaine Maag, Senior Research Associate, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, The Urban Institute

Aparna Mathur, Resident Scholar, Economic Policy, American Enterprise Institute

Michelle McCready, Chief of Policy, Child Care Aware of America

Michael Miller, Director, Strategic Policy, Community Catalyst

Rebecca Owen, Consulting Actuary, HealthCare Analytical Solutions, Inc.

Ray Pepin, Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) Administrator, Rhode Island Department of Labor & Training

Patrick Reeder, Senior Vice President, Government & Industry Relations, Genworth Financial

Erik Rettig, Director, Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, Small Business Majority 

Heinz Rothgang, Professor of Health Economics, SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy, University of Bremen

Christopher Ruhm, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia

Allen Schmitz, Principal and Consulting Actuary, Milliman, Inc.

Mary Sowers, Director of Special Projects, National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS)

David Stevenson, Associate Professor, Health Policy, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Eileen Tell, Principal and CEO, ET Consulting, LLC

Anne Tumlinson, CEO, Anne Tumlinson Innovations LLC

John Wilkin, Senior Actuary, Actuarial Research Corporation

Marci Ybarra, Assistant Professor, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago