Expanding Social Security Benefits for Financially Vulnerable Populations

Social Security is critical to the economic security of older Americans, especially to women, people of color, low-wage earners, and same-sex couples.

This white paper from the Older Women’s Economic Security Task Force and the Center for Community Change outlines five key policy changes to ensure the system addresses the needs of these vulnerable populations:

• Add a “caregiver credit” to compensate for periods of reduced income experienced while caring for loved ones;
• Extend benefits for students whose parents have died, become disabled, or retired;
• Ensure benefits accurately reflect the true cost of living for seniors;
• Provide the lowest wage earners with a special minimum benefit equal to at least 125 per cent of the Federal poverty line;
• Provide equal access for LGBT families.

To pay for these improvements, the report proposes fiscal and monetary policies to ensure full employment, and suggests “scrapping the cap,” so that everyone pays the same tax rate for Social Security.

Center for Community Change is an Atlantic grantee.