Search the News Archive

Congressional Research Service Report: Income of Americans Aged 65 and Older, 1968 to 2008

Excerpt: This CRS report presents data collected by the Census Bureau in the Current Population Survey from 1969 through 2009 about the employment status and the sources and amounts of income received by people aged 65 and older. The report focuses on the sources and amounts of income received by individuals aged 65 and older and by households in which either the household head or the household head's spouse (if present) was 65 or older in the year of the survey.

CRS Report: Saving for Retirement -- Household Decisionmaking and Policy Options (PDF)

30 pages. "In the past few decades, the major responsibility of retirement investing and planning has shifted from the employer to the American worker. With DC plans and IRAs, people typically need to make decisions about how much to contribute each year, how to invest their retirement wealth over a lifetime, and how to withdraw their funds in retirement without outliving their assets.... Using best practices from behavioral research, policymakers may consider how to best structure retirement accounts and retirement planning decisions to help more people achieve retirement security." [R46441, Jul. 2, 2020]

CRS Report: An Introduction to Health Care Reform (PDF)

20 pages. "Health care reform has emerged as an issue in the 111th Congress, driven by growing concern about widely discussed problems. Three predominant concerns involve coverage, cost and spending, and quality. Commonly cited figures indicate that more than 45 million people have no insurance, which can limit their access to care and their ability to pay for the care they receive. Costs are rising for nearly everyone, and the country now spends over $2.2 trillion, more than 16% of gross domestic product (GDP), on health care services and products, far more than other industrialized countries. For all this spending, the country scores but average or somewhat worse on many indicators of health care quality." [Report R40517, Apr. 14, 2009]

CRS Report: Social Security -- Minimum Benefits (PDF)

26 pages. "In 2017, about 39,347 of the 62 million Social Security recipients qualified for the minimum benefit.... The Social Security Administration estimates that the provision will have no effect on workers turning 62 in 2019 or later.... Some recent proposals would redesign the minimum benefit.... [A] new minimum benefit provision could be introduced, the standard benefit could be increased for people who worked for many years at low earnings, or a fixed dollar-benefit could be introduced." [R43615, July 20, 2018]

CRS Report: Pay and Pension Increases for Federal Employees Since 1969 (PDF)

12 pages. "Under the terms of the Federal Employees' Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-509), pay for civilian federal employees is adjusted each year to keep the salaries of federal workers competitive with comparable occupations in the private sector.... Congress has linked COLAs for Social Security and federal employee pensions to the rate of increase in the general level of prices.... COLAs ensure that a retiree's income will purchase the same amount of goods and services after years of retirement that it purchased at the start of retirement. COLAs do not reflect increases in the productivity of people who are still in the work force, and thus they do not increase the real purchasing power of retirement income. COLAs do not make retirees better off financially; they merely protect them from becoming financially worse-off over time as prices rise." [Report 94-971, updated Jan. 8, 2008]

CRS Report: The Use of Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) in Federal Health Programs (PDF)

20 pages. "Although the different health programs use the word 'household,' they do not necessarily refer to the same groupings of people. For example, married couples living together are counted as the same Medicaid household regardless of whether they file a joint tax return. By contrast, married couples must file a joint tax return to be eligible for premium credits. This report explores the different MAGI definitions across health programs, including Medicare, the health insurance exchanges under the ACA, and Medicaid. It also addresses why MAGI is used, and how it is applied, specific to each program." [Report R43861, Feb. 25, 2016]

CRS Report: Social Security -- The Windfall Elimination Provision (PDF)

17 pages. "The windfall elimination provision (WEP) is a modified benefit formula that reduces the Social Security benefits of certain retired or disabled workers who are also entitled to pension benefits based on earnings from jobs that were not covered by Social Security and thus not subject to the Social Security payroll tax.... WEP's supporters argue that the formula is a reasonable means to prevent overgenerous payments and unintended benefits to people who have earnings not covered by Social Security and receive pensions from noncovered work. Opponents argue that the provision substantially reduces a benefit that workers may have included in their retirement plans, and it reduces benefits disproportionately for lower-earning households." [Report 98-35, updated Feb. 1, 2021]

CRS Report: Social Security -- The Windfall Elimination Provision (PDF)

17 pages. "The windfall elimination provision (WEP) is a modified benefit formula that reduces the Social Security benefits of certain retired or disabled workers who are also entitled to pension benefits based on earnings from jobs that were not covered by Social Security and thus not subject to the Social Security payroll tax.... WEP's supporters argue that the formula is a reasonable means to prevent overgenerous payments and unintended benefits to people who have earnings not covered by Social Security and receive pensions from noncovered work. Opponents argue that the provision substantially reduces a benefit that workers may have included in their retirement plans, and it reduces benefits disproportionately for lower-earning households." [Report 98-35, updated Feb. 10, 2020 and again on March 4, 2020]

CRS Report: Social Security -- The Windfall Elimination Provision

21 pages. "In December 2022, about 2.0 million people (or about 3% of all Social Security beneficiaries) were affected by the WEP.... Recent legislation has generally proposed either to eliminate the provision for all or some affected beneficiaries, or replace the current-law provision with a new proportional formula based on past earnings from both covered and noncovered employment." [98-35 updated Feb. 13, 2023]

CRS Report: Consumer Spending by Older Americans, 1985-2005 (PDF)

72 pages. "Because of the demographic trend toward an older population and the decline in income that occurs as people leave the labor force for retirement, both the amount and the composition of consumption spending by American households could change substantially as the 76 million members of the baby boom reach retirement age. As Congress considers reforms to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, tax-deferred retirement savings plans, and other programs that provide income and benefits to older Americans, it may be helpful for policymakers to consider how older individuals spend their income and how this spending has changed over time." [Report RL34185, Sept. 24, 2007]