Since publication of the Atkins Commission report in 2003, the national scientific community has placed significant emphasis on developing cyberinfrastructure-enabled knowledge communities, which are designed to facilitate enhanced efficiency and collaboration in geographically distributed networks of researchers. This article suggests that the new cyberinfrastructure movement may not fully ben...

The 1990 Medigap reform legislation sought to make it easier for consumers to compare policies, provide market stability, promote competition, and avoid adverse selection. Evidence is that the standardization of benefits has simplified consumer choice and is strongly supported by consumers and State regulators. The 1990 reforms also decreased carrier and agent abuses. However, loss ratios (the ...

I ndustrialized counrries have long accerted the need 10 provide various suppons for people with disabilities. The common inrerest is to I'elate the benefits received by the person with a disability to a medical impairmenr and to the limitations the impairment places on function in the workplace. The purpose of this anicle is to discuss some of the inrernational and American approaches to the e...

Before 1983, beneficiaries under age 72 had benefits offset because of the earnings test provision of the Social Security Act if they had income from employment or self-employment exceeding certain exempt amounts. Beginning with 1983, the earnings test no longer applies as of the month the beneficiary attains age 70. This study presents detailed statistical data about persons affected by the ea...

"Longlife insurance" combines nursing home, home health, and deferred annuity benefits. It costs less than life care, allows the elderly to remain in their own homes, and protects assets. Adverse selection is limited because the plan is attractive to both frail and healthy elders. An analysis of 18,600 respondents in the Social Security Administration's New Beneficiary Survey indicates that 67 ...

Talking to oneself can be silent (inner speech) or vocalized for others to hear (private speech, or soliloquy). We investigated these two types of self-communication in 28 deaf signers and 28 hearing adults. With a questionnaire specifically developed for this study, we established the visible analog of vocalized private speech in deaf signers. "Signed soliloquy" is employed regularly and value...

This article derives from a study conducted on the validation of the Brazilian Functionality Index (IF-BrA) applied to the granting of retirement benefits to disabled persons. The retirement of persons with disabilities is regulated by Complementary Law 142 of May 8, 2013. The aim is to discuss how the individuals involved in application of the instrument perceive the concept of disability and ...

In 1982, disabled workers who came on the social security disability insurance rolls from mid-1980 to mid-1981 had median monthly incomes of less than $500 if they were unmarried and less than $1,300 if they were married. These median monthly income levels, which include the income of a spouse and minor children if present, are roughly half those of the noninstitutionalized population aged 25-6...

We have entered a new world of retirement income security in America, with older individuals more exposed to market risk and more vulnerable to financial insecurity than prior generations. This reflects an evolution that has altered the historical vision of a financially secure retirement supported by Social Security, a defined-benefit pension plan, and individual savings. Today, 2 of these 3 r...