Abandoning Family Values

From the Center on American Progress.....May 2, 2005

Social Security Privatization: Abandoning Family Values
Despite the focus on retirement benefits in the recent debate, Social Security is much more than a retirement program. Social Security also offers benefits to the spouses and children of retirees, to disabled workers and their families, and to the widows, widowers and children of deceased workers. In 2003, only 49.7 percent of Social Security beneficiaries received their own retirement check.

A new report by American Progress examines the distribution of beneficiaries across different parts of the Social Security program. As the Social Security privatization debate progresses, it is crucial to have a complete understanding of the family-based benefits that Social Security provides and the how they would be affected under any privatization proposal.