In both Medicare and Social Security, policy makers are examining ways to implement consumer choice through private organizations and markets. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 allows Medicare beneficiaries a wider range of choices among health plans, and the Social Security reform debate includes proposals to create individual retirement savings, or defined-contribution plans, for all or part of the benefits which retirees receive. At this conference, some of the nation's top scholars and policy analysts explored the tradeoffs of adding more individual choice in Medicare and Social Security.

Conference Co-chairs: Sheila Burke
Harvard University

Eric Kingson
Syracuse University

Uwe Reinhardt
Princeton University

A book of published proceedings, Social Security and Medicare: Individual versus Collective Risk and Responsibility, edited by Sheila Burke, Eric Kingson, and Uwe Reinhardt, is available through the Brookings Institution Press at 800-275-1447.