Medicare & Social Security for the Baby Boomers and Boom-lets: Unpacking Assumptions about Our Shared Future

This free policy seminar drew a large audience of economists, political scientists, social scientists, advocates, and researchers to hear from Nobel-prize-winning economist Robert Solow and other key speakers; engage in broad-ranging discussions of the future of social insurance; and explore innovative ways to strengthen Social Security for future generations.

1:30pm  Welcoming Remarks:  Janice Gregory, President, NASI

1:40pm  Sustaining a Shared Future through Social Insurance
As more risks are shifted to individuals, is social insurance in danger of becoming obsolete – or is it more essential than ever? What would it take to strengthen the role of social insurance in contributing to the common good?

Reflections by Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus of Economics, MIT, and Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1987

Discussants: 

• Stephen C. Goss, Chief Actuary of Social Security
• Michael Graetz, Columbia Alumni Professor of Tax Law and Wilbur H. Friedman Professor of Tax Law, Columbia Law School
• Jacob Hacker, Director of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science, Yale University
• Debra Whitman, Executive Vice President for Policy, Strategy and International Affairs, AARP

Moderator:  Lisa Mensah, Executive Director, Aspen Initiative on Financial Security

3:00pm  Break

3:15pm  Social Security for Boomers and Beyond – panel discussion
Will Social Security be adequate for boomers and the generations that follow? What would it take to fully finance Social Security? What would it take to modernize its benefits for the demographics of today and tomorrow? Recent reports offer new answers.                                                                                           

• Valerie Rawlston Wilson, Vice President of Research, National Urban League Policy Institute
  Plan for a New Future: The Impact of Social Security Reform on People of Color

• Heidi Hartmann, President, Institute for Women’s Policy Research
  Boomer Women and Social Security - Breaking the Social Security Glass Ceiling: A Proposal to Modernize Women's Benefits

• Webster Phillips, Senior Legislative Representative, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
  Some Ways to Pay for Social Security with Improvements

Moderator: Janice Gregory, President, NASI

4:30pm  Adjourn

Following the policy seminar, attendees joined NASI for an evening reception honoring Robert D. Reischauer, recipient of the 2012 Robert M. Ball Award.