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Maxwell School’s long tradition of involvement in the issues
of social insurance and income security took a new twist this
fall when Dean John L. Palmer was named to the Social Security
and Medicare Board of Trustees. Confirmed by the Senate in
October, Palmer was named as one of two public trustees, along
with Thomas R. Saving, an economist from the Bush School at
Texas A&M University.
The
Board of Trustees oversees the Social Security and Medicare
trust funds and is made up of three cabinet Secretaries
(Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services); the
Commissioner of Social Security; and two public trustees from
the private sector, who are independent experts. Each year, they
report on the status of the funds and provide short-range
projections of the funds for the next 10 years and long-range
projections for the next 75 years. Researchers and experts use
these projections in developing policy recommendations.
“The
public trustees’ primary role is to represent the interests of
the citizenry,” says Palmer. “Since the other trustees are
all members of the Administration, the public trustees provide
additional assurance to the Congress and the nation.”
Those
who know Palmer are not surprised by his appointment. His
professional experience makes him uniquely qualified for the
post. Palmer has a long-standing professional interest in both
Social Security and Medicare and wrote one of the first studies
calling attention to the challenges of our aging population to
retirement and health care financing. He was a founding member
of the National Academy of Social Insurance  (NASI),
a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization
made up of the nation’s leading experts on income security. He
served as NASI president from 1997 to 1999 and is currently a
member of its board of directors.
Palmer
was Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the
Department of Health and Human Services from 1979 to 1981 and
served as the agency’s Director of Income Security Policy in
the early seventies. He was also a senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution and The Urban Institute. In addition,
he’s written 12 books and more than 50 articles on a wide
range of social science and public policy topics.
Palmer’s
four-year Board of Trustees term was to begin with his
swearing-in ceremony in late November.
“This
next period of time could be crucial to the program,” says
Palmer. “There are a lot of major issues in regard to Social
Security that have been discussed as part of the campaign, that
are pressing, and that are on the public agenda. I hope to help
steward the program through whatever changes may occur and to
help it better serve the needs of the population.”
The
primary purview of the Board of Trustees is the financial
soundness of the trust funds. “I don’t have a particular
agenda as to what I think the changes in the program ought to
be,” Palmer says. “My job is to make sure they’re done
thoughtfully, that changes are made in a way to ensure and
strengthen the program over time, and that there’s adequate
provision for financing those changes.”
“There
are no more important programs than Social Security and Medicare
for our collective economic and social welfare,” says Palmer.
“I’m honored that President Clinton and the Congress have
confidence in my ability to serve the nation in this crucial
position.”
—RGL
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This article appeared
in the Fall 2000 print edition of Maxwell Perspective;
© 2000 Maxwell School of Syracuse University. To request a
copy, e-mail dlcooke@maxwell.syr.edu.
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