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Political Issues: Social Security
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Summary
Social Security in the United States currently refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program.
The original Social Security Act (1935) and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs. The larger and better known programs are:
Federal Old-Age, 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) U.S. Social Security is a social insurance program funded through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). Tax deposits are formally entrusted to Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, or Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund or the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund. The main part of the program is sometimes abbreviated OASDI (Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) or RSDI (Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance). When initially signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 as part of his New Deal, the term Social Security covered unemployment insurance as well. The term, in everyday speech, is used to refer only to the benefits for retirement, disability, survivorship, and death, which are the four main benefits provided by traditional private-sector pension plans. In 2004 the U.S. Social Security system paid out almost $500 billion in benefits. By dollars paid, the U.S. Social Security program is the largest government program in the world and the single greatest expenditure in the federal budget, with 20.8% for social security, compared to 20.5% for discretionary defense and 20.1% for Medicare/Medicaid. Social Security is currently the largest social insurance program in the U.S., constituting 37% of government expenditure and 7% of the gross domestic product and is currently estimated to keep roughly 40% of all Americans age 65 or older out of poverty. The Social Security Administration is headquartered in Woodlawn, Maryland, just to the west of Baltimore.
Social Security privatization became a major political issue for more than three decades during the presidencies of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
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Important Social Security Related Issues
Social Security - Social Security protects the economic security of workers, retirees and their families. AARP helps you understand Social Security with expert advice, new, ...
Social Security - The media's coverage of the new governmental reports showing that the severe economic recession has unsurprisingly taken a hit on the Social Security and ...
External Link to Social Security Issues
Social Security - Arguing that privatization is necessary to preserve Social Security benefits.
Social Security - The Social Security Number (SSN) was created in 1936 as a nine-digit account ..... Social Security Numbers Testimony, Ensuring the Integrity of the SSN, ...
References
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_(United_States)
- This page was last modified on 27 February 2010, at 19:58.
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