We’ve complained that politicians seem to prefer sticks to carrots when it comes to encouraging people to extend their working lives.

Now, Senators Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) are offering some carrots.

Among other provisions, The Incentives for Older Workers Act, introduced April 28, would extend the Social Security bonus for recipients who postpone claiming their benefits beyond the “normal” retirement age. The change could mean bigger monthly checks — for life — for those who choose to keep working.

How are you handling health care coverage in your encore career or encore transition?

Securing adequate health coverage is perhaps the biggest challenge for people considering or embarking on their encore careers. Fear of losing coverage keeps many people from leaving their current jobs, while the inability to find or afford coverage can limit encore career options. Retiree health benefits are becoming ever more rare. Some employers (Home Depot, Starbucks) offer health coverage for part-time work, but few nonprofits and social sector employers have followed suit. High costs and exclusions for “preexisting conditions” often rule out individual coverage.

Encore.org is interested in how people are managing this challenge. Are you:

• Getting employer-sponsored health benefits in your encore job?
• Staying in your current job to keep health coverage?
• Covered under a retiree health program, your spouse’s or partner’s plan, or Medicare?
• Taking advantage of COBRA benefits?
• Working at a part-time job in retail or elsewhere, primarily for the health coverage?
• Paying for individual coverage, perhaps a high-deductible (“catastrophic”) plan?
• Going without?

A growing coalition of organizations is seeking to overcome recent legislative setbacks to win federal support to increase national service opportunities and incentives for older adults, reports the Chronicle of Philanthropy..

“Encore accounts” to finance individuals’ transition to their encore careers are getting increased attention from presidential candidates on the campaign trail.

To be fair, none of them are actually mentioning “encore careers” in their proposals, at least not yet. But the attention could spur support for incentives directly aimed at helping people prepare for work that matters in the second half of their lives.

Our friends at Experience Wave, an effort to advance federal and state policies that make it easier for mid-life and older adults to stay engaged in work and community life, have released a survey that shows a majority (53%) of older adults see the coming wave of retiring baby boomers as an asset to society, “because it is creating a pool of skilled people with more free time to dedicate to their communities.”

Only 35% said the aging boomers will be a “major burden on society because they will put a severe strain on programs like Social Security and Medicare.”

IBM is gaining political support for its company-matched employee savings accounts for education and training, aka “encore accounts.”

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., sent a letter to colleagues seeking support for legislation that would provide a federal tax break for such accounts, perhaps similar to the provisions for 401k retirement account, which allow employees to make pre-tax contributions.

In an op-ed in the Washington Post, two Democratic strategists loft an innovative proposal to help ease the health insurance crunch for older adults who don’t yet qualify for Medicare.

Emanuel, a congressman from Illinois, and Reed, president of the Democratic Leadership Council, helpfully link the challenge of insuring 55-64-year-olds to that of insuring low-income children, which gets far more attention. As they point out, “In 2005, Americans ages 55 to 64 were the fastest-growing segment of the population to become uninsured” and those that do have insurance often pay exorbitant premiums.

Lack of insurance leaves many older adults vulnerable to financial catastrophe, and the fear of losing coverage keeps many people in jobs they’d rather leave — for example to pursue an encore career with more personal meaning and social benefit.

When it comes to Social Security, for some reason, policy makers and policy analysts seem to prefer sticks to carrots.

A case in point is this issue brief from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, which makes the case for raising the age at which Social Security early retirement benefits can be claimed from 62 to 63.5.

Many encore careers will take the form of national service, whether it’s tutoring schoolchildren as a member of Experience Corps or signing up for a stint in the Peace Corps.

Thus, it was refreshing to see the contribution of older adults so prominently featured in Time magazine’s cover story.

IBM chief executive Sam Palmisano announcing IBM’s “Global Citizen’s Portfolio”

IBM is creating a form of encore career savings accounts to help its employees pay for the education and training they need for the next stage of their working lives, either with the company or not.