| AIME | average indexed monthly earnings, a summary of lifetime earnings used to set a retiree’s Social Security benefit level | |
| BMI | body mass index, commonly used to distinguish underweight, overweight, and obese individuals. The index refers to weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. | |
| CBO | Congressional Budget Office | |
| COLA | cost-of-living adjustment | |
| CPI | Consumer Price Index | |
| CPI-W | Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers | |
| DI | the federal disability insurance program administered by the Social Security Administration | |
| EEA | early entitlement age, the age at which an individual can begin receiving Social Security benefits at a reduced level relative to beginning benefit receipt at the normal retirement age | |
| FEM | Future Elderly Model, a microsimulation model developed and maintained by the Roybal Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California | |
| HI | the federal hospital insurance program, also known as Medicare Part A. This program helps cover the costs of inpatient care in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, hospice care, and some home health care services | |
| HRS | Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal, nationally representative survey of individuals aged 51 and older begun in 1992 and administered by the University of Michigan | |
| IRR | internal rate of return, the rate at which an individual would need to be willing to trade off between present and future income in order for the present value of the stream of Social Security benefits to be exactly equal to the present value of the stream of taxes paid | |
| MCBS | Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, a continuous survey of a nationally representative sample of the Medicare population conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services | |
| MEPS | Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a set of large-scale federal surveys of families and individuals, their medical providers (doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, etc.), and employers across the United States | |
| NHANES | National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey | |
| NHIS | National Health Interview Survey | |
| NPV | net present value | |
| NRA | normal retirement age, the age at which an individual can begin receiving unreduced Social Security benefits | |
| OASDI | the federal old-age, survivor, and disability insurance, commonly referred to as Social Security | |
| OLS | ordinary least squares | |
| PIA | primary insurance amount, the benefit a person would receive if he/she elects to begin receiving Social Security retirement benefits at his/her normal retirement age | |
| SMI | Supplementary Medical Insurance, which consists of Medicare Parts B, C, and D, helps pay for physician, outpatient, prescription drug, and other services | |
| SSA | Social Security Administration | |
| SSI | the federal Supplemental Security Income Program, designed to assist low-income aged, blind, and/or disabled people | |
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