Table Of ContentNavigating Social
Security Options
Danny Pieters
Navigating Social Security Options
“This book contains nothing less than a full panoramic view of the entire world
of social security. The options presented therein, though condensed and easily
readable, offer an abundance of information covering the entire range of today’s
challenges for the organisation of social security. Clearly structured and formu-
lated, they help to open up horizons of choices instead of cementing ideolog-
ical positions—which is a most welcomed approach for advancing social policy
today.”
—Ulrich Becker, Professor and Director, Max Planck Institute
for Social Law and Social Policy, Germany
“A most useful, original and enlightening book in which Pieters, one of the
most prominent experts in this field, tackles the main challenges faced by Social
Security systems, offering all the key aspects that policy choices should carefully
take into account.”
—Borja Suárez, Director General for Social Security, Spanish Ministry
of Labour, Migrations and Social Security, and Professor,
Universidad Autónoma Madrid, Spain
“Pieters highlights principles of social security by putting them into a model of
political choices, and exploring what the outcomes of these might be. A fascinat-
ing picture of the potential tools in social policy.”
—Franz Marhold, Professor of Labour and Social Law, Vienna
University for Business and Economics, Austria, and President
of the European Institute for Social Security, Belgium
“This book is the perfect sequel to Danny Pieters’ Social Security: An Introduction
to the Basic Principles, building on the policy dimension of our social security sys-
tems in a lucid, elegant and comprehensive manner.”
—Gijsbert Vonk, Professor of Social Security Law, Groningen
University, the Netherlands
“This book steers the reader away from the common, one dimensional, cost
reduction driven analysis of social security, into an understanding of the assump-
tions behind existing social security systems. It is only by understanding these
assumptions and their implications that policy makers will select the bold choices
needed to create a social security system for the 21st century.”
—Chris Gibbon, Independent Consultant and former Vice President
and Worldwide Leader of the Global Social Security Business, IBM
“A very useful enrichment of the social security discourse, this book offers a great
checklist from a social law perspective and is of interest to all social scientists.”
—Robert Holzmann, Fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences,
and Honorary Professor, University of New South Wales, Australia
Danny Pieters
Navigating Social
Security Options
Danny Pieters
Institute for Social Law
KU Leuven
Leuven, Belgium
ISBN 978-3-030-05991-0 ISBN 978-3-030-05992-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05992-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018964580
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P
reface
In this book I seek to introduce the reader to 50 topics with regard
to which policy choices need to be made by social security systems, or
more precisely by the people and institutions in charge of social secu-
rity in their country. These policymakers may often not realize that they
have and/or their predecessors had a variety of options from which to
choose. This book may help them become more aware of the choices
that have been made and enable them to question these choices in light
of the actual situation. I occasionally comment upon the choices I prefer
or dislike, but I mainly restrict myself to presenting the pros and cons of
the various options. My first aim is to help the reader navigate between
the various social security options available.
I have grouped the policy issues around four major social risks:
income replacement in case of old age and survivorship, unemployment,
incapacity for work, and social health care protection. These policy areas
were selected as they are the most crucial to the development of a social
security system. In most countries, the bulk of social security expenditure
is also to be found in these areas.
This work is based on the academic literature on social security law
and social security policy, of which I give a condensed overview in the
attached bibliography. When writing this book, I built further on my
earlier book Social Security: An Introduction to the Basic Principles,
(Kluwer Law International, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2006), as well as some
other earlier material I will refer to in the relevant chapters. However,
as social security is a field of study that continuously evolves, it was also
v
vi PREFACE
important to keep track of the most recent evolutions of the social secu-
rity systems in the various countries. Furthermore, a range of papers on
social security topics coming from the European Union, the Council
of Europe, the International Labor Organization, the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, the European Institute of Social Security,
the International Social Security Association, and the European Social
Observatory were important when drafting the present text. Many arti-
cles in the European Journal of Social Security and in the International
Social Security Review also contained valuable information. I could not
include them all in my bibliography, but they are certainly to be included
in the reading list of anyone wanting to explore one or more of the 50
topics dealt with in my book. In the text I only refer to specific earlier
publications when I quote literally or cite substantive content.
I am grateful to my colleague Paul Schoukens for having read the
manuscript and having provided me with valuable comments. I also
thank Paula Cunningham and Thijs Keersmaekers for the linguistic and
editorial revision. Finally I should not forget to mention my students,
especially the students of the Master of European Social Security at the
KU Leuven with whom I have had interesting and sometimes lively
debates over many of the topics dealt with in this book.
May this book help anyone committed to the advancement of social
security to make the right choices!
Leuven, Belgium Prof. Dr. Danny Pieters
Fall 2018
c
ontents
1 Policy Choices for Income Replacement in the Case
of Old Age and Survivorship 1
1 Old Age, Retirement: What Is the Social Risk? 3
2 Universal or Professionally Based? Pillars?
Compulsory or Not? 4
3 Repartition vs Capitalization 6
4 The Statutory Pension Age 9
5 The Requirements for a Full Pension 10
6 Pensions and the Family Unit 12
7 The Pension Amount 14
8 Working with a Pension 16
9 Acquired Rights, Rights Being Acquired,
and the Younger Generations 17
10 Why Do We Pay Widow/ Widower’s Pensions? 19
11 Married and Unmarried Couples 21
12 State Support for Second and Third Pillar Arrangements 22
Bibliography 24
2 Policy Choices Relating to Unemployment Benefit
Schemes 31
1 Introduction 32
2 Risk Covered by Unemployment Benefit Schemes 33
3 Unemployment Insurance or Unemployment Assistance? 34
vii
viii CONTENTS
4 Unemployment Benefits for Whom? 35
5 Involuntary Unemployment and Availability
for the Labor Market 36
6 Suitable Work 38
7 Testing Willingness to Work 40
8 Unemployment Benefits and Working 41
9 Working for Unemployment Benefits 43
10 Unemployment and Incapacity for Work 43
11 Previous Work Record 44
12 Duration of the Benefit 44
13 Amount of Benefit 46
14 The Changing Nature of Work and Unemployment 47
15 Towards a European Unemployment Insurance? 49
16 Concluding Reflections 51
Bibliography 53
3 Policy Choices Relating to Incapacity for Work Schemes 61
1 What Is the Social Risk to Be Covered? 62
2 Why Do We Have Different Schemes for Unemployment
and Incapacity for Work? 64
3 How Should the Reference Person Be Defined? 65
4 A Concrete or Abstract Definition of Incapacity for Work? 67
5 A Dual Approach or Not? Invalidity Benefits or Pensions? 67
6 Evaluating the Degree of Incapacity: Percentages or
Classes and Their Evaluation 69
7 Where Does the Continuation of Wage Payment Stop
and Social Security Start? 72
8 Activation of People Incapacitated for Work, Working
While Receiving Benefit, and Re-evaluation of Incapacity 73
9 Preventive Incapacity for Work Benefits? 75
10 Privileges According to the Cause of Incapacity for Work? 76
11 Personal Responsibility for Incapacity for Work 77
12 More Than the Loss of Earning Capacity: The Need
for Care 79
Bibliography 80
CONTENTS ix
4 Policy Choices Relating to Social Health Care Schemes 87
1 Territorial Organization of (Social) Health Care 89
2 The Relationship Between Social Health Care and Private
Health Care 90
3 Limits to the Availability of Health Care 91
4 The Universalist Character of Social Health Care 93
5 In-Kind or Refund-Based Social Health Care 94
6 The Financing of Social Health Care 94
7 Co-payment by Patients and Its Limits 95
8 The Status and Payment of Health Care Providers 96
9 Freedom of Choice Regarding Health Care Provider 98
10 Professional Responsibility of the Health Care Provider and
the Informed Consent of the Patient 100
11 The Personal Responsibility of the Patient for Their Own
Health 101
12 The Impact of Medical Liability 102
13 Concluding Reflections 103
Bibliography 104
Bibliography 109
Index 117
