Securing Social Security Solvency

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-167
Author(s):  
William P. Brandon ◽  
Zachary Mohr
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Consumer Price Index ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Payroll Taxes ◽  
Unearned Income ◽  
Social Security Beneficiaries ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

AbstractAdequate income is a social determinant of health. In the United States, only Social Security beneficiaries receive inflation-protected guaranteed income. Social Security needs another 1983 compromise in which stakeholders accepted “shared pain” to avoid insolvency. We propose indexing the benefit using the chained consumer price index (CPI) for all urban consumers and providing a one-time bonus of 8% to 10% for beneficiaries in their mid-80s, when needs become greater. The chained CPI has little impact when beneficiaries start receiving benefits, but older beneficiaries need protection. The estimated 75-year savings from this restructured benefit amount to 14.2% to 18% of Social Security deficits. Modest increases in payroll taxes and maximum earnings taxed should make up most of the shortfall. Including unearned income with wages and salaries subject to the 6.2% individual tax would produce much more revenue. The discussion explores the proposal’s political feasibility, grounding in current policy and political science literature, and the role of income as a social determinant of health.

scholarly journals Mechanisms linking teenage mothers’ educational attainment with self-reported health at age 50

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Maslowsky ◽  
C. Emily Hendrick ◽  
Haley Stritzel
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Early Childbearing ◽  
Partner Characteristics ◽  
Higher Educational Attainment ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

Abstract Background Early childbearing is associated with adverse health and well-being throughout the life course for women in the United States. As education continues to be a modifiable social determinant of health after a young woman gives birth, the association of increased educational attainment with long-term health for women who begin childbearing as teenagers is worthy of investigation. Methods Data are from 301 mothers in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 who gave birth prior to age 19. We estimated path models to assess women’s incomes, partner characteristics, and health behaviors at age 40 as mediators of the relationship between their educational attainment and self-rated general health at age 50. Results After accounting for observed background factors that select women into early childbearing and lower educational attainment, higher levels of education (high school diploma and GED attainment vs. no degree) were indirectly associated with higher self-rated health at age 50 via higher participant income at age 40. Conclusions As education is a social determinant of health that is amenable to intervention after a teen gives birth, our results are supportive of higher educational attainment as a potential pathway to improving long-term health outcomes of women who begin childbearing early.

scholarly journals Reactions to Diversity: Using Theater to Teach Medical Students about Cultural Diversity

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. JMECD.S37986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberley D Ivory ◽  
Paul Dwyer ◽  
Georgina Luscombe
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Diversity Training ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Cultural Humility ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Perceptions And Attitudes ◽  
Interactive Exercises ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

Training medical students to understand the effects of culture and marginalization on health outcomes is important to the future health of increasingly diverse populations. We devised and evaluated a short training module on working with diversity to challenge students’ thinking about the role of both patient and practitioner culture in health outcomes. The workshop combined didactic teaching about culture as a social determinant of health using the cultural humility model, interactive exercises, and applied theater techniques. We evaluated changes in the students’ perceptions and attitudes over time using the Reaction to Diversity Inventory. There was initial significant improvement. Women and students with no past diversity training responded best. However, scores largely reverted to baseline over 12 months.

Culture, a Social Determinant of Health and Risk: Considerations for Health and Risk Messaging

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Iwelunmor ◽  
Collins Airhihenbuwa
Keyword(s):  
Health Communication ◽  
Social Determinants Of Health ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Cultural Frameworks ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health ◽  
Improve Health

We provide an overview on the role of culture in addressing the social determinants of health and risk. The fact that everyone is influenced by a set of locally defined forms of behavior means that while not overtly expressed, culture’s effects can be ubiquitous, influencing everything including the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping health and risk messaging. While the dynamic nature of culture is underestimated and often not reflected in most research, efforts to close the gap on social determinants of health and risk will require greater clarity on what culture is and how it impacts culture-sensitive health communication. Thus, the paper begins by reviewing why culture is so vital and relevant to any attempts to improve health and reduce health inequalities. We discuss what is meant by the term “culture” through a narrative synthesis of historical and recent progress in definitions of culture. We conclude by describing three distinct cultural frameworks for health that illustrate how culture can be effectively used as a vehicle through which to address culturally sensitive health communication in local and global contexts. Overall, we believe that culture is indispensable and important for addressing inequalities and inequities in health as well as for facilitating culture-sensitive health communication strategies that will ultimately close the gap on the social determinants of health and risk.

Borderline: The Ethics of Fat Stigma in Public Health

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 510-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cat Pausé
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Health Campaigns ◽  
Health Seeking ◽  
Health Seeking Behaviors ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Public Health Campaigns ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health ◽  
Fat Stigma

This article argues that public health campaigns have an ethical obligation to combat fat stigma, not mobilize it in the “war on obesity.” Fat stigma is conceptualized, and a review is undertaken of how pervasive fat stigma is across the world and across the lifespan. By reviewing the negative impacts of fat stigma on physical health, mental health, and health seeking behaviors, fat stigma is clearly identified as a social determinant of health. Considering the role of fat stigma in public health, and the arguments made for using stigmatisation in public health campaigns to promote population health, it is concluded that it is a violation of public health ethics to use stigma as a tool in combatting fatness. The article concludes by making recommendations of how public health in New Zealand can combat, rather than reinforce, fat stigma.

scholarly journals Social security and mortality: The role of income support policies and population health in the United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter S Arno ◽  
James S House ◽  
Deborah Viola ◽  
Clyde Schechter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Population Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Income Support

scholarly journals Effects of non-health-targeted policies on migrant health

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
S P Juarez ◽  
M Rostila
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Migrant Health ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Wealth Creation ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Migration And Health ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

Abstract This presentation will commence with a brief overview of the field of migration and health with the purpose of contextualizing the need for more policy-oriented research in this area, in so far as policy is a crucial -yet still overlooked- social determinant of health. In this context, we will present the main findings of a systematic review and meta-analysis recently published in the Lancet Global Health which looks at the effects of entry and integration policies on migrant health. The findings will, in turn, serve as a starting point to discuss how migration issues in general, and migration and health in particular, should be framed in relation to economic and human rights. Acknowledging the role of economic arguments in decision making, the presentation will end with a general reflection about the invisible contributions of migrants to wealth creation in a global economy and the difficulties of estimating such contributions.

Commentary: Making the case for linking behavioral health strategies to enhance work as a social determinant for youth

2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Peggy B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
High School Graduates ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Program Participant ◽  
Participant Selection ◽  
Barriers To Employment ◽  
Successful Execution ◽  
Social Determinant Of Health

This commentary addresses the importance of work as a social determinant of health and the role that behavioral health interventions play in its successful execution. Data on the influence of nonmedical factors on wellness of vulnerable populations is reviewed as well as the need to facilitate acquisition of meaningful employment for post–high school graduates, referred to as opportunity youth. It also discusses the role of behavioral health professionals to proactively manage mental health concerns that negatively influence the employment process. Moreover, it suggests that behavioral health professionals can potentially predict work acquisition success based on participant risks and barriers to employment. Such analyses can affect decisions regarding program participant selection and the assessment of program/staff resources required for a successful pathway to job acquisition. Such insights can provide useful guideposts on how to apply this social determinant theory to effectively integrate this unutilized workforce into productive jobs.

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