Policymakers & Advocates

The 26th annual workers’ compensation report produced by the Academy provides the only comprehensive data on workers’ compensation benefits, coverage, and employer costs for the nation, the states, the District of Columbia, and federal programs.

States’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to workers’ compensation policy will likely prove an important factor in providing critical support to workers while protecting employers from liability.

Workers’ compensation insures millions of workers and their families against the risks associated with lost wages and medical costs in the event of injury on the job, workrelated illness and, in extreme cases, the death of a worker. It is the only social insurance system run almost entirely by states, with no federal guidelines.

Academy Members and partners participated in a virtual roundtable discussion on recent legislative and executive responses by states across the country concerning workers’ compensation and workplace safety.

This fact sheet describes the urgency of updating Supplemental Security Income (SSI) after decades of federal neglect, especially as policymakers work to “build back better” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes policy options for ensuring that seniors and people with disabilities are able to access basic economic stability and live with dignity.

The primer is a PowerPoint presentation of approximately 40 slides that provides factual background about Social Security, its benefits and finances, and some policy options to improve the program. The Academy’s income security staff ensures that the data in the presentation are up-to-date.

The National Academy of Social Insurance, in collaboration with AARP, conducted a Social Security Policy Innovations Challenge in 2019. The purpose of this Challenge is to surface and disseminate creative and practical policy proposals that might improve retirement security…

Medicare provides health insurance coverage to about 61 million Americans – 52.6 million ages 65 and older and 8.7 million persons with disabilities – and is one of the nation’s largest sources of health coverage. Close to 20 percent of U.S. health expenditures flow through Medicare, which provides coverage for about one of every six people residing in the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shocked the U.S. health care system. With the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression, millions of Americans have lost employer-sponsored health insurance. Since the beginning of the pandemic, visits to primary care physicians and outpatient specialists have declined, and many hospitals have postponed or cancelled elective procedures.

Improving access to affordable, high-quality health coverage and care and containing health care spending remain formidable policy challenges for the United States. Some policymakers and analysts view Medicare as a useful platform for expanding coverage because it has broad popularity, serves as a cost-effective source of health insurance coverage, and has potentially positive side effects across other parts of the health care system.