The Board believes we can do it this way. Extend the protection of the system to the families of 20,000,000 people who are not now protected. Reduce the age for women to qualify for old-age retirement benefits from 65 to 60 years. Of course, insured widows with young children are already entitled to monthly benefits, regardless of age. We think with those improvements and extensions, the program will serve its purpose well and give needed assurance to all Americans that they will not face the choice of starvation or dependency.
Disability is actually as great a threat to family security as either death or old age.
In fact, it is worse. Because when the breadwinner is disabled or sick, family expenses go much higher than they would if he were dead or merely old. And disability strikes too often when the breadwinner is young and has a growing family. The old-age and survivors insurance machinery is all set to handle the recordkeeping and benefit payments. All we need is a law to put the system in operation.