Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Pensions”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Politicization of the age problem--the dispute over industrial pension funds in the Ruhr district on the eve of the 1st World War].

The heterogeneous experience of older industrial workers on the job, in the labor market, and in their families prevented the development of a consciousness recognizing old age as a political problem. Industrial social policies for old age or disability appeared earlier than state programs and continued to play an important role even after the start of social insurance in Germany. The low public pensions and the increasingly uncertain family support of the elderly made supplementary private benefits very attractive. Before 1914, however, in the debate between labor unions and business about the rigid rules of private pension funds and their use for social control, the problems of aging workers became highly politicized. Drawing upon examples from Krupp and Gutehoffnungshütte, the article emphasizes that these industrial social policies were aimed at maintaining a division between mobile and permanently employed workers as well as limiting the influence of the labor movement.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Vesting of private pension benefits in 1979 and change from 1972.

This article examines the prevalence of vested private pension benefits in 1979 as reported by full-time private wage and salary workers actively participating in pension plans. It also analyzes the effect of selected demographic, economic, labor-force, and plan characteristics on vested status. Years of participation in a plan was by far the most important predictor of vested status. Age was positively related to vested status even after accounting for the longer plan participation of older workers. Evidence pertaining to occupation, size of firm, and type of employer plan suggests that multi-employer plans and those covering professional and managerial workers and the employees of the smallest firms have more rapid vesting schedules than plans covering other workers. Sex, race, union representation, and earnings had little meaningful effect on vested status. This article also examines change in the prevalence of vesting after passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by comparing reported vested rates for 1972 and 1979. The proportion of plan participants reporting vested benefits rose substantially during this period, a finding suggestive of ERISA's substantial impact. The magnitude of the change is examined by years of service with employer, age, sex, earnings, occupation, and industry.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Impact of inflation on private pensions of retirees, 1970-74: findings from the retirement history study.

Many private pension plans have provided benefit increases or other forms of protection against inflation to their retired workers in recent years. This article, based on panel data from the Retirement History Study, examines the extent to which completely retired persons in their sixties benefited from these increases from 1970 to 1974. The private pension benefits of retirees rose slightly during the period, but their purchasing power declined sharply on account of the considerable growth in the inflation rate. Social security benefits, on the other hand, rose substantially more than the consumer price index. As a result, total retirement benefits largely maintained or nearly maintained their purchasing power.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

American Nurses Association's strategy to enact a portable pension scheme.

The American Nurses Association has long been active in the issue of pension portability and sees several avenues: federal legislation, collective bargaining and public education. It is engaged in a project to examine all three options as well as try to gather much needed data on the specific situation nurses face in vesting in sound pension programmes.

American Nurses' Association↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Population-based nutritional risk survey of pensioners in Yerevan, Armenia.

Armenia, a republic of the former Soviet Union, currently suffers from hyperinflation of its currency, a five-year country-wide blockade, and a war with Azerbaijan. Pensioners 60 years of age or older may be at high risk for significant nutritional deficits. We drew a stratified systematic sample (with a random starting point) of 456 pensioner names from all eight administrative regions in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. We administered a questionnaire that gathered data including self-reported weight and height, demographic characteristics, living conditions, medical and dietary history, income, and aid received from various sources. The survey yielded 381 of 456 (84%) completed interviews. Ninety-one percent reported their diet had gotten worse during the past six months, including less variety (83%) and quantity (85%) of food. Seventy-six percent reported they did not have enough money to buy food, and 91% had cut the size of their meals or skipped meals. Forty-five percent reported a weight loss of > or = 5 kg in the previous year. After we adjusted for potential confounders, weight loss of > or = 5 kg was associated with illness affecting eating (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.2, 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 1.4, 3.4), not having received aid (adjusted OR = 2.2, 95% CI = 1.1, 4.1), and cutting the size of or skipping meals (OR = 2.7, 95% CI = 1.1, 6.7).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed1994

[Physician and expert--a conflict situation? General practitioners work with disability pension's errands in a time of restraint policy].

OBJECTIVE: To study how general practitioners perceive their role and conduct their work as certifying physicians for patients applying for disability pension, with emphasis on effects of the revision of the law in 1991 which narrowed the medical criteria for eligibility. DESIGN: Personal in-depth interviews, tape recorded for qualitative analysis. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: 24 general practitioners in the city of Trondheim and rural communities in the county of Møre og Romsdal. OBSERVATIONS: Attitudes and behaviour varied considerably: On one side "the patient's advocate" strived for what he considered to be the best overall result for his patient--as opposed to "the consultant", who regarded himself as neutral and loyal to the policy makers. Narrowing the medical eligibility criteria for disability pension was perceived as reducing the doctor's influence on the outcome of an application. Many "consultants" welcomed the revision. Some "advocates" sought to counteract the loss of influence on the patient's situation through various coping strategies related to the medical certificate. Others intensified the search for alternative solutions to the patient's problems. A third strategy implied leaving the "advocate's" involvement in favour of a more disengaged role in order to make ideals meet with reality. CONCLUSIONS: Many certifying physicians seem to have been under considerable pressure, owing to the conflicting interests of patients and authorities, and we ask whether, under such conditions, the typical doctor tends to adopt a more "bureaucratic" and less "hippocratic" role.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1996

ERISA: pillar of pension reform, roadblock to healthcare reform.

With Republicans and Democrats agreeing to strategies that move the resources and responsibilities for healthcare reform to the states, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) presents even greater barriers than surfaced in federal planning. The single most formidable obstacle to state healthcare reforms, ERISA's preemption clause supersedes all state laws that "relate to" employee benefit plans. The authors trace the history of pension legislation that led to the strong ERISA protections and explain the interpretations of the law which affect healthcare. They explain the history of the Hawaii plan's waiver; the continual refinement of the law through legislation; and the growing body of case law that interprets ERISA's application through the "relate to" requirement, the "savings" clause, and the "deemer" clause. Finally, they point out that the political solutions being acted out in Congress are leading to poor healthcare policy. Overriding or waiving ERISA would not lead to national health policy solutions and could endanger millions of workers' pension and benefit plans. Meanwhile, the only relief for states comes in slow and incremental steps through the court system.

Health Benefit Plans, Employee↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Demands on the legal pension security system based on the demographic change].

This paper deals with the German public pension system which is affected by changing demographics. It examines whether the problems can be solved more efficiently by either a fundamental change towards a tax-financed basic allowance augmented by a private capital accumulation sheme, or by adjustments within the present system of wage-determined contributions. The analysis shows that basic allowance and capital accumulation systems are inadequate, essentially for macroeconomic reasons and adverse effects on redistribution, to the demographically induced problems of the public pension system.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Optimal pension funding with demographic instability and endogenous returns on investment.

"This paper tries to explore some optimal funding policies for pension systems in a general equilibrium setting where funding affects returns on investment and wages through its impact on capital formation. This is done in the context of irregular demographic evolutions such as those expected in developed countries for the next century. Particular attention is given to the intergenerational welfare criterion which is used for designing optimal policies.... We will first present the model for the pension system and the economy and discuss a general one-parameter form for the intergenerational utility function. We will then present the simulated optimal paths for different numerical specifications of the model and the utility function. The last section will show by how much a simpler policy with fixed transfers and purely individual funding can depart from optimal paths...."

Developed Countries↗
PubMed1985

The demographics of unfunded pensions.

The performance of pay-as-you-go old-age insurance under different demographic conditions can be estimated from a metric consisting of the implicit rate of return to successive cohorts. The author shows a positive return for the prospective population over the next few years, but for cohorts born after the end of the century returns will become sharply negative. A decline in returns is typical of pay-as-you-go schemes as they mature, and a change to negative returns is typical in particular as the birth rate falls under fixed economic conditions. The return can be kept positive by greatly increased fertility or immigration. Taking labor-force participation rates into account, and supposing entitlement independent of contribution, gives much larger negative rates of return, however. The main calculations considered here are for schemes with a constant pension. If the contribution rather than the pension is kept constant then the disparities between cohorts with respect to their returns are smaller, and although the negative returns for future generations then set in earlier they are smaller. The conclusions of the paper are broadly applicable to any population that showed a baby boom after World War II and replacement-level or lower fertility subsequently.

Americas↗
PubMed1997

The pension incentive to retire: empirical evidence for West Germany.

"In this paper, the impact of the West German pension system on the retirement decisions of elderly citizens is analyzed within the framework of a discrete-time hazard rate model deduced from a micro-economic decision rule. The model is estimated using a panel dataset of elderly West German citizens. In order to improve the precision of the estimates obtained, the data from the sample are combined with aggregate-level information on the labour force participation behaviour of the elderly. Policy simulations based on the estimates reveal that the probability of early retirement can be reduced significantly by appropriate changes in the pension system."

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The relationship between the receipt of supplementary pension, disability and the use of services by the elderly.

Twelve hundred and eighty-eight people aged 70 and over in two general practices in South Wales were interviewed about their degree of physical disability, their use of health and social services and whether or not they received supplementary pensions. Those who received supplementary pensions were more likely to be in receipt of services at all levels of physical disability but a multiple regression analysis suggested that this was due to intervening variables, particularly the degree of physical disability and whether or not the person lived alone.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

Management of demand in the NHS, including the effects of queues and pensioners.

Discusses the methods used in the NHS to bring demand into balance with supply. People with minor illnesses try self-treatments and alternative medicine. Systematic programs to identify ill people are applied to only a few illnesses. Waiting lists for elective surgery cause some richer people to take their demand to private hospitals. An analysis of such waiting lists shows that, other than this, queues are not a method of rationing but are just the effect of bad management of the actual methods, which are then discussed. The same methods are used to ration access to specialist physicians. Providing extra resources would eliminate queues only if another condition was satisfied. It is argued that providing fully adequate medical care for patients of working age, although expensive, might produce a net economic gain, whereas all care for pensioners, including medical care, gives a net economic loss. Therefore it may not be sensible for people to have inadequate medical care for the first 65 years of their lives just because it is economically impracticable for them to have fully adequate medical care when they are pensioners.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Evaluation of a dental public health program for old-age pensioners in Denmark.

A high priority is given to improvements in the oral health of the elderly in Scandinavia. In 1987 a Danish municipality established a dental public health care program for old-age pensioners. All 67-year-old citizens were offered school-based preventive and curative care using guidelines and principles established by the Danish Municipal Dental Service for children. Care was provided free of charge. Citizens not wishing to obtain care through the public system could do so from private dental practitioners. Reimbursement for care obtained from the private system was provided by the National Health Insurance and the municipality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of the program after three years of operation. A follow-up design was used and data were collected by interviews and clinical registrations. At baseline and follow-up 216 (71%) and 235 (77%) pensioners, respectively, were interviewed about their self-assessments of dental health, dental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Clinical data were collected only for the elderly who participated in the public program, and included 194 persons at baseline and 187 at follow-up. These data included information on tooth loss, dental caries, periodontal health, and presence and function of removable dentures. At the follow-up, 86 percent of all respondents had regular dental visits of at least once a year compared to 46 percent at baseline; 75 percent participated in the public program and 11 percent obtained care from private practitioners. At the end of the intervention period, fewer elderly reported symptoms of poor oral health or impaired function of dentures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed1982

Abuse of alcohol and disability pension. The effect of the liberalization in Sweden in 1977.

Social reforms are often introduced solely on the basis of theoretical considerations without any empirical research. Thus, it is often an urgent matter to evaluate the real effects of a reform. In this investigation, the increased possibilities for abusers to obtain disability pensions that came into force in Sweden 1977-01-01 have been examined. A representative sample of 15 percent of all applications in the county of Ostergötland in 1975 has been compared with a corresponding one in 1978. As expected, the number of abusers of alcohol among the applicants increased. The proportion of male abusers rose from 13.5 in 1975 to 22 percent in 1978. Despite a levelling off of differences in the civil status in 1978, the abusers were still in a substantially weaker social position than the other applicants. In contrast to the other applicants, no traces of increased efforts towards vocational rehabilitation can be noted among the abusers in 1978. This is quite remarkable since, according to the preceding official report, liberalization was not meant to replace meaningful efforts of rehabilitation. In 1978, the whole group of applicants were younger and they lived more frequently in large, densely populated areas. Furthermore, the number of women increased so that they were in a majority among the applicants in 1978. These changes probably reflect structural changes in society, especially in the labour market. This is the final report of an independent study in the research project "Abuse of alcohol - Disability pension - Quality of life".

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Amendments to Summary Plan Description regulations. Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Labor. Final rule.

This document contains a final rule amending the regulations governing the content of the Summary Plan Description (SPD) required to be furnished to employee benefit plan participants and beneficiaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). These amendments implement information disclosure recommendations of the President's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, as set forth in their November 20, 1997, report, "Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities." Specifically, the amendments clarify benefit, medical provider, and other information required to be disclosed in, or as part of, the SPD of a group health plan and repeal the limited exemption with respect to SPDs of welfare plans providing benefits through qualified health maintenance organizations (HMOs). In addition, this document contains several amendments updating and clarifying provisions relating to the content of SPDs that affect both pension and welfare benefit plans. This document also adopts in final form certain regulations that were effective on an interim basis implementing amendments to ERISA enacted as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). This final rule will affect employee pension and welfare benefit plans, including group health plans, as well as administrators, fiduciaries, participants and beneficiaries of such plans.

Consumer Advocacy↗
PubMed1990

Population aging and social security: a politico-economic model of state pension financing.

"The present paper attempts to provide a positive, politico-economic explanation of actual social security policies [in developed countries]. A theoretical framework is devised which integrates individual utility maximization and governmental maximization of expected political support. Individual support depends on how net economic benefit from a pay-as-you-go financed state pension scheme is translated into a probability of voting for the government. The relation between net economic positions, public policy parameters, and voting probabilities is made explicit by referring to the logit model of qualitative choice. The analysis is set in an overlapping generations framework. Optimal state pension policies are characterized, relating such diverse factors as population aging, political power distribution, social solidarity, and income taxation." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND GER)

Demography↗