Social Security’s Policies on Women

* Jonathan Barry Forman’s “Why Treat Today’s Women As If This Were the 1930s?” (Opinion, May 4) is right on the mark, but fails to fully explain the negative consequences of the current Social Security system. In a fumbled effort to “fix” Social Security, Congress now penalizes deserving and sometimes needy seniors who committed part of their lives to public service. At the same time, Congress continues to allow full benefits to those who never contributed to, or do not need, Social Security.

While means testing was thrown out as a solution, in 1983, Congress decreed that seniors who retired from government services would have their Social Security checks reduced from 10% to 60%, depending on the number of years they contributed to Social Security. For example, a teacher could only get a percentage of his or her entitled Social Security benefits, under 1983 rules, because teachers receive retirement benefits from their employer. This rule ignores the fact that teachers contribute to their retirement benefits and many contribute to Social Security when employed outside the classroom.

Merely selecting certain groups who chose government service as a career and arbitrarily cutting their benefits is truly an unfair way to bail out the Social Security system.

MILLIE ROSE

West Hills