Social Security Act Essay

On August 14, 1935 in Austin, Texas, President Franklin D. Roosevelt inked his signature on the Social Security Act. It was originally implemented to resolve problems with unemployment, old age insurance, and public health and welfare. The Great Depression was the catalyst for the creation of the Social Security program, and the basic structure was very similar to Germany’s social insurance programs from the 1880s. Today, social security is mostly used for retired senior citizens starting at the age of 62. At 62, American citizens can begin to collect, but will only receive 35% of their monthly benefit due, rather than the maximum amount of 50% when they reach the full retirement age of 66. (cite) In addition, social security is dispersed to about 14 million disabled people under the age of 62, who can no longer work in the labor force for various reasons. The people who qualify as disabled are just a small percentage of those collecting compared to senior citizens, and are often not mentioned when social security issues are brought up because of their minute effects on social security distribution.

Lastly, the Social Security Act was one of many reform efforts that sprung from the New Deal. This act was an attempt to provide general welfare for women and their children, those with disabilities such as blindness, older individuals, and public health, and helped financially support them while they were looking for work elsewhere. It was most common with elderly individuals, as they received what is known as “old-age pensions.” This was one of the few reforms that has stayed with us since the New Deal, and was economically successful in bringing America out of the Great

Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) replaced AFDC, ending some Federal responsibility to welfare assistance. States operate their own programs; determine eligibility services to be provided to needy families, within Federal guidelines. The Federal government cannot regulate the conduct of states except to a few requirements, and states have a wide latitude in administering the program to "provide assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes; to reduce dependency by promoting job preparation, work and marriage; to prevent out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and to encourage the formation and

Document Cb shows a chart of programs that was created by the Social Security Act. It list the names of the different programs and a description of what each program does. Like the old-age assistance, which supports and watches over the elderly who can’t survive on their own. Some of the programs that were created during the New Deal didn’t disappeared after the New Deal

Social security was created in response to the Great Depression. The purpose of it is to protect aged and disabled persons from illness expenses, to give children a chance to grow up healthy and secure, keep families together, and to augment the material needs of individuals and families. The Social Security Act was first passed in 1935 and later amended in 1956 to provide disability benefits. Some programs included under the Social Security Act are: retirement insurance, survivor’s insurance, disability insurance, and some public assistance and welfare services. The Social Security program is meant to provide benefits,social security numbers, and generate its own finances.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, welfare is defined as “a government program for poor or unemployed people that helps pay for their food, housing, medical costs, etc.” (Dictionary) Some of these programs include; Food Stamps, Medicaid, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Head Start, Medicare, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Work Study.

A landmark change in providing for the elderly came in 1935 with Franklin D. Roosevelt 's Social Security Act. While this provided aid to people with disabilities and mothers with children, aid was also mainly intended for the elderly. The premise of the act was that an individual would pay into the government through the years that they worked and upon retiring that person would receive benefits. Elderly Americans relied on this system to help pay for expenses that they might incur after they reached an age where they could no

Professor Kooijman has a Ph. D in Media and American Studies. He is an assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The Social Security Act of 1935 included provisions for temporary social insurance that would provide relief for the elderly, disabled and others. President Roosevelt wanted to provide a means of providing healthcare for all. This had to be done without disturbing the American Medical Association or the AMA. Many doctors want to keep politics out of healthcare, but with Medicare and Medicaid the government is already involved. It was hoped that with the establishment of the Social Security Act the need for Social Health Insurance would be recognized, but it was delayed and the Act was put into law. The only parts that were successfully added were the grants for state public health services that include maternal and infant care. These programs have helped many mothers and children that would not have access to healthcare without them. In recent years there have been many cuts due to a shrinking budget, but with the general public seeing the need for healthcare for all hopefully new programs will be developed to support

The social security act was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt so that he could put in place provisions in order to help the elderly. The social security act a document that helps impoverished citizens, such as the elderly and physically impaired receive benefits after retirement. Citizens’ in America during the great depression where expected to work weather elderly or physically disabled. These citizens weren’t afforded the financial stability to retire so work was a necessity to acquire money. “Prior to social security, the elderly routinely faced the prospect of poverty upon retirement” (U.S SSA). This effect of the great depression led to a lot death and homes turning into singled parent homes with no income. “The widespread

     Several federal agencies today support and administer the various Social Security programs. The programs associated with Social Security include Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI), Medicare, Unemployment Compensation, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). For people who have worked for a living, OASDI and Medicare provide support during their older years and when they have stopped working. Unemployment Compensation provides temporary financial help during periods between jobs. SSI provides income to people who cannot work for various reasons. The OASDI

In the midst of the worst financial crisis in modern history, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act in August of 1935 to combat high unemployment and poverty, especially among the elderly. In the process, he laid the foundation for a modern safety net. The act has been amended over the years and consists of several welfare and social insurance programs including the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), among other medical assistance programs.

The Social Security system is projected to help people with limited financial resources, including the poor, the physically disabled, the mentally ill, and the elderly (Grabianowski 2015). The system was created in response to the pervasive poverty during the great depression, to provide basic level of income at retirement, as well as disability pay and life insurance foe workers (Kessler, 2014). In addition, the system provided benefits for dependents, immediate family members, and even divorced spouses, at the time of serious accidents or illnesses (Kessler, 2014). The first widespread social security program in America was the Civil War Veteran pensions in 186 that supported injured Union veterans and their survivors. The plan was expanded in 1910, to include Civil War veterans (Social Security Administration). As America went into Great Depression after the stock market crash in 1929, the government focused on the need for a comprehensive system that provided assistance to the poor and elderly to live independently (Social Security Administration). In 1934, President Roosevelt formed a Committee on Economic Security (CES), who came up with a plan that allowed workers to put a small percentage of their pay into an aggregate account that could be drawn when they retired to help meet their monthly expenses, which became the Social Security Act in 1935 (Social Security Administration).

Social security, the federal retirement system, is one of the most popular government programs in United State?s history. Today, Social Security benefits are the backbone of the nation's retirement income system. The long road to the successful development of social security began in 1935. Before 1935, very few workers received job pensions. Those workers that were covered never received benefits because they were not guaranteed.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democratic President, invented Social Security as part of "The New Deal" in the year 1935. Its invention was to combat the "The Great Depression". It was invented along with welfare to help America's elderly, disabled, and unemployed.

The Social Security System is in need of a new reform; our current system was not designed for the age stratification we have at this time. The U.S. Social Security Administration Office of Policy states, “The original Social Security Act, signed into law on August 14, 1935, grew out of the work of the Committee on Economic Security, a cabinet-level group appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt just one year earlier. The Act created several programs that, even today, form the basis for the government's role in providing income security, specifically, the old-age insurance, unemployment insurance, and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) programs.” Social Security was modeled to aid the elderly citizens, however during the