“The Nation’s Retirement System: A Comprehensive Re-evaluation Is Needed,” Government Accountability Office (GAO)

“The U.S. retirement system, and the workers and retirees it was designed to help, face major challenges. Traditional pensions have become much less common, and individuals are increasingly responsible for planning and managing their own retirement savings accounts, such as 401(k) plans. Yet research shows that many households are ill-equipped for this task and have little or no retirement savings. In this special report, GAO examines these challenges, drawing from prior work and others’ research, as well as insights from a panel of retirement experts on how to better ensure a secure and adequate retirement, with dignity, for all. . . . Congress should consider establishing an independent commission to comprehensively examine the U.S. retirement system and make recommendations to clarify key policy goals for the system and improve how the nation promotes retirement security.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):

Yeah right, what this country needs is another study commission. No, what this country needs is to understand that if you’re going to make people more responsible for their own retirement and health care planning, you can’t indemnify them with unfunded Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits when they fail. Otherwise, moral hazard prevails. Fewer and fewer people are responsible while more and more come to rely on social programs that are less and less able to pay benefits. It’s a vicious downward spiral which this mealy-mouthed GAO report misses entirely.

“The Nation’s Retirement System: A Comprehensive Re-evaluation Is Needed,

#goldencareagent
#retirement