New America Policy Papers

Golden Dream Accounts

Asset Building — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:11:00 -0400

As the percentage of workers covered by traditional employer pension plans has plummeted in recent years, saving has become the only path to secure retirement income beyond social security. Although a significant proportion of employers now offer their workers a tax advantaged retirement savings product like the 401(k), tens of millions of workers nationwide simply do not have access to an employer sponsored retirement savings plan. In addition, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and other retirement products offered by private financial institutions have failed to fill the gap in employer coverage, in part due to the high fees and complexity… more

Employer Health Costs In a Global Economy

Health Policy — Tue, 06 May 2008 06:29:00 -0400

Increasing Employer Health Costs, Lowering U.S. Competitiveness

Although most Americans get health insurance through their employers, business leaders are increasingly united in their belief that rising health care costs threaten America’s competitiveness in the global economy. Business support for comprehensive health reform has been growing as a result.

However, economists generally believe that it is workers -- rather than employers -- who pay for health care through lower wages. Although this proposition may hold true in the long run, employers face a variety of constraints that may make it difficult for them to fully shift health costs in the short run.… more

How Much Does the Federal Government Spend To Promote Economic Mobility, And For Whom?

Fiscal Policy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:30:00 -0400

In an economically mobile market economy, individuals and families are able to raise their private incomes, wealth, and ability (sometimes referred to as human capital) over time and across generations. In the United States, many associate economic mobility with the pursuit of the American Dream. Education, work experience, and saving enhance the opportunity for upward economic mobility. To this end, many federal spending and tax expenditure or tax subsidy programs aim to enhance economic mobility. But exactly how much does the federal government encourage economic mobility? What form does this encouragement take? And who benefits from these efforts?

To begin answering these… more

Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Resolutions

Fiscal Policy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:06:00 -0400

This Budget Update looks at the budget resolutions passed by both the House (H. Con. Res. 312) and Senate (S. Con. Res. 70), compared to each other as well as to the CBO March baseline and the President’s budget as reestimated by CBO.

Major Points The House-passed budget should be commended for complying with pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules without exception. The budget plan assumes that all changes to revenues and mandatory spending would be offset so that deficits would not be increased over the six- and eleven-year time periods. Neither the House nor the Senate budget makes any attempt to control the unsustainable growth… more

Taking Back Our Fiscal Future

Fiscal Policy — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:57:00 -0400

The authors of this paper are longtime federal budget and policy experts who have been drawn together by a deep concern about the nation’s long-term fiscal outlook. Our group covers the ideological spectrum. We are affiliated with a diverse set of organizations. We have been meeting informally for over a year, under the auspices of The Brookings Institution and The Heritage Foundation, to define the dimensions and consequences of the looming federal budget problem, examine alternative solutions, and reach agreement on what should be done. Despite our diverse philosophies and political leanings, we have found solid common ground. We… more

Financial Services Corps

Asset Building — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:06:00 -0400

Today’s complex financial marketplace makes it increasingly difficult for individuals to understand and navigate the array of products and services available from a variety of financial service providers. For low to middle income individuals who have fewer financial resources to begin with, a solid grounding in personal finance and a clear understanding of the options and implications of one’s financial decisions are all the more critical.

While there is a wide range of financial education curricula available, there is a dearth of financial advisors and educators to help low and middle-income families understand the complexities of the financial services sector, access… more

Nuclear Bailout

Ron Tang — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:10:00 -0400

The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to undertake an extensive, multi-billion dollar investment in new nuclear weapons facilities and new nuclear warhead designs. The initiative, known as “Complex Transformation,” is unnecessary on strategic and technical grounds, not to mention exorbitantly expensive. The various plans being considered by the DOE have more to do with bailing out the nuclear weapons industry than they do with determining what size complex makes sense in an era of nuclear arms reductions. At a minimum, current proposals should be put on hold until the new president taking office in January 2009 has a chance to… more

Cost Of Failure

Health Policy — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:07:00 -0400

In 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimated that the “annualized economic cost of the diminished health and shorter lifespan of Americans who lack health insurance is between $65 and $130 billion for each year of health insurance forgone.”

After updating the IOM’s numbers to reflect growth in the economy and increases in the number of uninsured, we estimate that the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured cost the U.S. economy between $102 billion and $204 billion in 2006. This estimate does not include spillover costs. For example, when medical bills go unpaid, providers attempt to recoup lost revenues… more

Partners In Closing the Achievement Gap

Education Policy — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:47:00 -0400

Over the past eight years, states have dramatically expanded their support for publicly-funded pre-k programs, and the number of children enrolled in these programs has grown significantly. States are investing in pre-k because research shows that high-quality pre-kindergarten programs can have a positive long-term impact on children’s life outcomes, help narrow the achievement gap between poor and affluent youngsters, and that the benefits of these investments to children and the taxpaying public outweigh their costs. In other words, high-quality pre-k is a key weapon in the arsenal of public policies that we can use to combat poverty and inequality and strengthen the skills of our workforce for the… more

Letter On the Budget Resolution And Taxes

Fiscal Policy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 06:59:00 -0400

Thank you for your inquiry concerning whether the budget plan reported by the House Budget Committee increases taxes. The budget resolution does not raise taxes. Both tax rates and tax revenues as a share of GDP will increase under the budget resolution because tax increases are part of current law, not because of policies introduced as part of the budget resolutions currently under consideration.

Barring changes, taxes will increase beginning in 2011 due to the way in which the original 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were passed. In order to decrease the number of votes necessary for passage and to help… more

The Assets Report 2008

Asset Building — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:03:00 -0400

The purpose of this annual report is to summarize and take stock of the current state of federal policy through an asset-building lens, especially as it affects the asset base of families with lower incomes and fewer resources, which is the focus of our work. The report is divided into three sections. The first is a review of policy developments from the past year related to asset building, highlighting administration action and significant legislation, including assets-related bills introduced in the first year of the 110th Congress; the second is an examination of the President’s budget proposals for Fiscal Year… more

A Primer on the Budget Resolution’s Impact on Education Funding

Education Policy — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 03:31:00 -0400

The budget resolution put forward by Congress each year -- which sets out the congressional budget plan for the next five years -- and the ensuing budget process itself are enormously significant for education funding. However, the arcane procedures under which Congress produces and acts upon the budget resolution are often confusing to the media and education advocates alike. This confusion is made worse by political rhetoric and partisan spin. This brief by the New America Foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project is meant to shed light on how the budget resolution affects education funding.

This primer clarifies certain aspects of the… more

Lessons From California's Health Reform Efforts For the National Debate

Health Policy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:10:00 -0500

In January 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a comprehensive health care plan that aimed to provide quality, affordable health insurance to all Californians. Based on individual responsibility, the plan focused on prevention and wellness and emphasized a shared responsibility approach to financing.

After almost a year of negotiations between Governor Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislative leaders, compromise legislation with a framework and goals similar to the governor’s original proposal passed the State Assembly with a large majority. This compromise legislation, however, was later rejected by the California Senate’s Health committee.

The effort to reform California’s health care system faced several… more

Who Receives Uncompensated Care?

Health Policy — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:16:00 -0500

Uncompensated care (UC) is health care that is delivered, but not paid for by either a patient or a third party payer. Most UC is delivered to the very ill during or after a visit to an emergency room. In 2004, UC was estimated to total $41 billion dollars.

This issue brief finds that individuals with incomes above 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) or $41,300 for a family of four and people living at or below the poverty level account for two-thirds of all UC in the U.S.

Three policy solutions may be necessary to reduce UC costs:… more

Health Care Reporting Guide for Journalists

Health Policy — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:08:00 -0500

For reporters new to the health beat -- or for political or business reporters who need to delve into health policy now and then -- the topic can be daunting. Luckily, there are many, many resources on the web, useful whether you are in Washington or around the country... If you find yourself drowning in jargon and acronyms, it helps to take a breath and remember that health care is about people, and that it affects every one of us, and everyone we care about.

This issue brief discusses three common health care concepts:

Universal coverage v. Universal access More care ≠ Better… more

What Hill Staff Should Know About Health Care

Health Policy — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:59:00 -0500

Our current health system is not sustainable. It leaves many Americans without access to quality, affordable health coverage, weakens the ability for U.S. businesses to compete internationally, and threatens the stability of our economy.

There are many ways that we could achieve a system of coverage for all Americans. However, in order to be economically and politically sustainable over time, any comprehensive reform plan must:

Cover all Americans

Lack of health insurance negatively affects the overall productivity of society, the stability of emergency care, and the health and financial well-being of individuals.

Control health care cost growth

No health reform proposal will be sustainable over… more

What Does 'Post-Partisan' Mean?

Next Social Contract — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

One might well have imagined over the last few years that we were headed toward an era of deeply partisan politics. Under the tutelage of Karl Rove, the Bush Administration “played to the base.” Most of the energy on the other end of the spectrum came from “netroots” bloggers who flamed Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, and the centrist Democratic Leadership Conference with nearly the same contempt they showed for George W. Bush and Karl Rove. Yet here we find ourselves at a moment many describe a “post-partisan” -- with the two front-running Presidential candidates, McCain and Obama, best known for their ability work with and show respect for… more

The American Public and the Next Social Contract

Next Social Contract — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:21:00 -0500

The first premise of the New America Foundation’s initiative on the Next Social Contract is that the structures that help American workers and their families balance economic security and opportunity involve much more than a set of government programs. What we call the social contract is a set of formal and informal systems and assumptions, involving individuals, employers and government, that provide, as Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. put it, “security in the context of freedom and freedom in the context of security.” These assumptions have evolved through the course of American history, shaped by the crises and historical accidents from which they were born. Together, they are rooted in the… more

The President's Medicare Proposal

Fiscal Policy — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Last week, the Bush administration released a proposal to

raise the Medicare premiums for wealthy Americans enrolled in the prescription drug program; reform medical liability laws; and introduce "value-based health care" measures to improve Medicare efficiency.

The proposal was issued in compliance with the "trigger" provision of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. This provision states that the President must present a plan when, for two consecutive years, the Medicare program's trustees estimate that funds taken from general revenues will exceed 45 percent of Medicare's total funding in any of the next seven years.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget strongly… more

More Details on the President's FY2009 Budget

Fiscal Policy — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

As the Committee pointed out in its earlier release (FY 2009 Budget), the President’s Budget reaches balance in 2012 only through a number of questionable assumptions regarding future fiscal policy. This update will extend that analysis by looking in more detail at the policy and baseline assumptions that underlie the Administration’s budget request.

This paper has pointed out places where the policy assumptions made by the Administration have made the 2012 deficit seem smaller than it likely will be. Acknowledging that costs for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to continue for several years, that discretionary appropriations likely… more