SOCIAL SECURITY IN THE UNITED STATES
Social Security in the United States is a rubric that includes many programs
benefiting diverse groups of citizens. In general, social security and insurance
programs include government-provided pensions, disability payments, unemployment
compensation, and health benefits. As pointed out in the previous chapter,
many of the government assistance programs for the poor in this country are
administered by the Social Security Administration. This chapter confines the discussion
exclusively to social insurance and pension programs administered under
the Social Security Act. This category of expense includes a multitude of other
programs, such as railroad retirement, public employee retirement, disability
insurance, and worker’s compensation. However, the most important programs
from the point of view of public policy are (1) old-age, survivors, and disability
insurance (OASDI)—the system of government-supplied pensions; (2) Medicare
(HI)—the system of health insurance for the elderly; and (3) unemployment
insurance (UI). This chapter emphasizes government pension programs. Social
Security pays pensions to retired workers, their spouses and dependent children,
and to disabled workers. About 70 percent of beneficiaries are retired workers.
About 14 percent of pension recipients are disabled workers. The remaining beneficiaries
are dependent spouses and children of retired or deceased workers.