In Search of Retirement Security: The Changing Mix of Social Insurance, Employee Benefits, and Personal Responsibility

Conference Co-Chairs:
Teresa Ghilarducci, University of Notre Dame
Van Doorn Ooms, Committee for Economic Development
John L. Palmer, Syracuse University

Developments in employer-sponsored pensions, disability insurance and retiree health benefits are changing retirement prospects for millions of Americans. As pension plans shift from defined benefit to defined contribution, workers face greater responsibility for managing retirement saving. A decline in retiree health care coverage, along with rising costs for those who continue to have coverage, contribute to the new financial responsibilities for individuals planning for their retirement. Social Security and Medicare reform proposals would also increase individual choice and responsibility for retirement planning.

This conference will address such questions as:

• What are the implications of the changes in employer-based benefit programs for social insurance programs?
• How might Social Security and Medicare reform affect employer-based programs? and
• What might these changes mean for the health and income security of tomorrow's retirees?

Join your colleagues in Washington, DC for a fresh perspective on these important questions. Registration forms will be mailed and available from this website in early December.

A book of published proceedings (sponsored by the Century Foundation and NASI), In Search of Retirement Security: The Changing Mix of Social Insurance, Employee Benefits, and Individual Responsibility, edited by Teresa Ghilarducci, Van Doorn Ooms, John L. Palmer, and Catherine Hill, is available through the Brookings Institution Press at (800) 275-1447.