SOCIAL SAFETY IN

THE USASocial Welfare,

Social Security,

Medical Care.

SOCIAL SAFETY NET

Social safety nets, or "socioeconomic safety nets", are non-contributory transfer programs seeking to prevent the poor or those vulnerable to shocks and poverty from falling below a certain poverty level. Safety net programs can be provided by the public sector or by the private sector.

SAFETY NET TRANSFERS INCLUDE:

Cash transfers, Food-based programs such as

supplementary feeding programs and food stamps, vouchers, and coupons,

In-kind transfers such as school supplies and uniforms,

Conditional cash transfers, Price subsidies for food, electricity, or

public transport, Public works, Fee waivers and exemptions for health

care, schooling and utilities.

FOOD-BASED PROGRAMS

Food-based safety net programs support adequate consumption and contribute to improving nutrition and securing livelihoods. They differ from other safety net programs in that they are tied to the provision of food, either directly or through cash-like instruments (food stamps, coupons) that may be used to purchase food.

Supplementary feeding programs provide a direct transfer of food to target households or individuals. The food may be prepared and eaten on-site (e.g., in child feeding centers or at schools), or given as a dry ration to take home.

School feeding programs encourage children’s enrollment and improve their ability to pay attention in class.

Food for work (FFW) programs provide food rations in exchange for a given amount of work done.

Emergency food distribution includes direct provision of food, supplementary feeding for vulnerable groups, and therapeutic feeding during crises, emergencies and situations in which people are displaced.

Food stamps, vouchers, and coupons are near-cash paper tokens targeted to poor householdsthat they can use to purchase food at authorized retail locations.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Safety nets are part of a broader poverty reduction strategy interacting with and working alongside of social insurance; health, education, and financial services; the provision of utilities and roads; and other policies aimed at reducing poverty and managing risk.

Safety net programs can play four roles in development policy:

Safety nets redistribute income to the poorest and most vulnerable, with an immediate impact on poverty and inequality.

Safety nets enable households to make productive investments in their future that they may otherwise miss, e.g. education, health, income generating opportunities.

Safety nets help households manage risk, at least offsetting harmful coping strategies and at most providing an insurance function which improves livelihood options.

Safety nets allow governments to make choices that support efficiency and growth.

SOCIAL WELFARE

Welfare is the provision of a minimal level of well-being and social support for all citizens, sometimes referred to as public aid. In most developed countries, welfare is largely provided by the government, in addition to charities, informal social groups, religious groups, and inter-governmental organizations.

The United States would be the only industrialized country that went into the Great Depression with no social insurance policies in place. It was not until 1935 that significant, if conservative by European standards, social insurance policies were finally instituted under Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act, limiting the work week to 40 hours and banning child labor for children under 16, was passed over stiff congressional opposition. The price of passage of the New Deal's Social Security and Fair Labor acts was the exclusion of domestic, agricultural, and restaurant workers, who were largely African-American, from social security benefits and labor protections.

SOCIAL SECURITY

In the United States, Social Security refers to the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance federal program. The original Social Security Act (1935) and the current version of the Act, as amended, encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs.

Social Security is currently estimated to keep roughly 40 percent of all Americans age 65 or older out of poverty. The Social Security Administration is headquartered in Woodlawn, Maryland, just west of Baltimore.

THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION HEADQUARTER

MAJOR PROGRAMS: Federal Old-Age (Retirement), Survivors, and

Disability Insurance, Unemployment benefits, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Health Insurance for Aged and Disabled

(Medicare) Grants to States for Medical Assistance

Programs (Medicaid) State Children's Health Insurance Program

(SCHIP) Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

NORMAL RETIREMENT AGE

The earliest age at which (reduced) benefits are payable is 62. Full retirement benefits depend on a retiree's year of birth.

CHILDREN'S BENEFITS

Children of a retired, disabled or deceased worker receive benefits as a "dependent" or "survivor" if they are under the age of 18, or as long as attending primary or secondary school up to age 19 years, 2 months; or are over the age of 18 and were disabled before the age of 22.

SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER

A side effect of the Social Security program in the United States has been the near-universal adoption of the program's identification number, the Social Security number, as the de facto U.S. national identification number. The government originally stated that the SSN would not be a means of identification, but currently a multitude of U.S. entities use the Social Security number as a personal identifier. These include government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the military as well as private agencies such as banks, colleges and universities, health insurance companies, and employers.

MEDICAL CARE

In the U.S., programs that meet these definitions include Social Security, Medicare, the PBGC program, the railroad retirement program and state-sponsored unemployment insurance programs.

SOCIAL INSURANCE IS ANY GOVERNMENT - SPONSORED PROGRAM WITH THE FOLLOWING FOUR CHARACTERISTICS:

the benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;

explicit provision is made to account for the income and expenses (often through a trust fund);

it is funded by taxes or premiums paid by (or on behalf of) participants (although additional sources of funding may be provided as well);

the program serves a defined population, and participation is either compulsory or the program is heavily enough subsidized that most eligible individuals choose to participate.

SIMILARITIES TO PRIVATE INSURANCE:

Typical similarities between social insurance programs and private

insurance programs include:

Wide pooling of risks; Specific definitions of the benefits

provided; Specific definitions of eligibility rules

and the amount of coverage provided; Specific premium, contribution or tax

rates required to meet the expected costs of the system.

DIFFERENCES FROM PRIVATE INSURANCE:Typical differences between private

insurance programs and social insurance programs include:

Participation in private insurance programs is often voluntary,

The right to benefits in a private insurance program is contractual, based on an insurance contract,

private insurance is fully funded, but this is not always true.