Social Security Statements : Social Security Administration Should Better Evaluate Whether Workers Understand their Statements

The Social Sec. (SS) Statement is the Social Sec. Admin. (SSA) main document for communicating with workers about their SS benefits. It shows an individual's annual earnings, payments into SS & Medicare, & projected benefits. The SSA also uses the statement to explain the various types of SS benefits & to encourage greater financial planning for retirement. This report examines: how well recipients understand the current statement; how the SSA is evaluating the statement's understandability; & the promising practices used by private sector co. & other industrial countries. This info. was obtained from a nat. survey & focus groups of statement recipients, officials from 3 countries (Canada, Sweden, & the UK), & other experts. Charts & tables.Bovbjerg, Barbara D. is the author of 'Social Security Statements : Social Security Administration Should Better Evaluate Whether Workers Understand their Statements', published 2005 under ISBN 9781422300480 and ISBN 142230048X.