Burkhauser testifies on Social Security before House subcommittee

By Susan Lang

Social Security can be saved by raising the retirement age for benefits to 65 from 62, a Cornell social security expert told a Congressional subcommittee this week.

That would not be such a hardship, said Richard Burkhauser, chair of the Department of Policy Analysis and Management, because today's baby boomers, who are tomorrow's retirees, are healthier, wealthier and will live longer than previous generations.

At the same time, he said, it's imperative to protect the minority of the older working age population with poor health and little wealth who cannot continue working. This, he proposed, should be achieved by lowering the age for receipt of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for retirees to 62 from 65.

"This would offer a guaranteed minimum income for the small minority of older workers who cannot work to age 65 and who do not have the financial means to support themselves," Burkhauser said.

Burkhauser, the Sarah Gibson Blanding Professor of Policy Analysis, testified before the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 10.

"Studies show that the vast majority of Americans who take early Social Security are healthy, could have continued to work and could afford to live without Social Security benefits for several more years," Burkhauser said.

By lowering the age of SSI to 62, however, widows, people with disabilities who do not qualify for Disability Supplemental Income and other vulnerable populations would be better protected from poverty, he said.

He also told the subcommittee that if workers with disabilities were better integrated into the work force, specific changes to Social Security policy would not be necessary. He recommended, for example, tax-supported subsidies to employers to keep employees with disabilities and subsidies for medical insurance for people with disabilities.

Burkhauser is an expert on social policy and is credited with playing a significant role in policy-making on pensions and Social Security benefits. Many of his statements were based on research he has published in the "Journal of Human Resources," "The Gerontologist" and a book he co-edited on disability, Disability, Work and Cash Benefits.