Women, on average, earn less than men. Our proposal provides all workers with an opportunity to contribute to their individual accounts, at a minimum, an amount equal to one percent of the taxable wage base. In addition, our proposal creates an additional bend point to the Social Security formula to boost the traditional Social Security replacement rate for low-income workers. Our proposal would create a new bend point so that there would be a 90 percent bend point, a 70 percent bend point, a 32 percent bend point and a 15 percent bend point. This would enhance the traditional Social Security benefit for low and middle income workers.
Women live longer than men.
At age 65, men are expected to live another 15 years, whereas women are expected to live almost 20 more years. One way in which our proposal addresses that reality is by allowing money accumulated in the individual accounts to be passed on to surviving spouses and children. Furthermore, our proposal would increase the widow's benefit to 75 percent of the value of the combined benefits that a husband and wife would be entitled to based on their own earnings. Developments in modern science allow many older Americans to live longer, healthier lives. Their minds are sharp and they are eager to remain in the workforce in various capacities.