Social Security Reform: Implications of Private Annuities for Individual Accounts

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the implications of establishing individual social security accounts, focusing on: (1) the effect individual social security accounts might have on the existing annuities market; (2) factors that affect the amount of annuity payments; and (3) the potential role of the federal government in regulating the annuities market if individual accounts were established.