Summary
The Future Role of Pensions in Savings and Retirement Income—A Number of Factors Will Affect the Determination of This Relationship—What will government policy be toward pensions and what actions will that policy bring? Action taken in the 1993 budget act to reduce allowable contributions to pension plans will reduce projected pension benefits for some by over 30 percent, resulting in lower contributions to plans and smaller asset accumulations. Senate Finance Committee staff have suggested in past speeches that further cuts in the amount that can be saved through pensions are in the offing.
National Health Expenditures Reached $884.2 Billion in 1993—National spending on health care reached $884.2 billion in 1993, or 13.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to data recently released by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). This is an increase of 7.8 percent over the 1992 spending of $820.3 billion. The growth rate of national health expenditures appears to be slowing in the 1990s. From 1980 through 1990 national health expenditures grew at an average annual rate of 10.7 percent, while from 1990 through 1993 the rate was 8.3 percent. In 1994, HCFA revised its methodology and recalculated all of the national health expenditure data back to 1965. Therefore, the data presented in this article are not comparable with those in earlier reports.
Americans Say They Support Tax Increases to Preserve Social Security, According to New EBRI/Gallup Survey—A majority of Americans say they support tax increases now in order to preserve Social Security benefits for future recipients, according to a new public opinion survey conducted by EBRI and The Gallup Organization, Inc.