March 13, 2012
Ottawa should move to reform seniors’ benefits in the upcoming budget by letting recipients choose richer payments, later, from the Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement programs if they wish, according to a report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “What to do About Seniors’ Benefits in Canada: The Case for Letting Recipients Take Richer Payments Later,” William B.P. Robson says letting OAS and GIS recipients delay take-up and rewarding those who do could contain program costs over time in a way that is less stressful to recipients than raising the universal eligibility age, and less discouraging to work and saving than intensifying clawbacks.
