January 30 – January 31, 2003
NASI 15th Annual Conference
National Academy of Social Insurance 15th Annual Conference
Conference Co-chairs:
Kathleen Ann Buto
Vice President, Health Policy at Johnson & Johnson Government Affairs
Martha Priddy Patterson
Director of Employee Benefits Policy Analysis at Deloitte & Touche
William Spriggs
Director of the Institute for Opportunity and Equality at the National Urban League
America is a diverse society and will become increasingly so in the coming decades. Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans are a growing proportion of the population. At the same time, American households are becoming more diverse with an increase in single-parent families, dual earning couples, non-married couples, and people living alone. Growing diversity strengthens our economy, enriches our culture and poses new questions for social insurance programs and policies. The conference will examine the changing face of America in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, and family composition. How have social insurance programs ameliorated disparities among Americans over time? What new challenges does growing diversity pose to social insurance policies for the future? The conference will take a cross-cutting look at how Social Security, Medicare and state-administered programs-unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, Medicaid, and cash assistance-accommodate America’s growing diversity.
A book of published proceedings, Strengthening Community: Social Insurance in a Diverse America, edited by Kathleen Buto, Martha Priddy Patterson, William E. Spriggs, and Maya Rockeymoore, is available through the Brookings Institution Press at (800) 275-1447.