Social Security programs in the United States, 1993.

This article contains the latest information on the historical development and present status of all the major U.S. social insurance and public aid programs under the Social Security Act: the Social Security program (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance); Railroad Retirement; Public Employee Retirement; Unemployment Insurance; Workers’ Compensation; State programs for Temporary Disability Insurance; Medicare; Medicaid; Supplemental Security Income; Food Stamps; Aid to Families with Dependent Children; Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children; School Lunches; Low-Income Home Energy Assistance; General Assistance; Public and Other Subsidized Housing; and Earned Income Tax Credit. The poverty income guidelines for 1993 are also presented. All industrialized countries have developed broad public programs of social insurance, health care, and income support. The purpose of these progmms is to protect people from the possibility of income loss due to old age, unemployment, disability, work-related injury, or death and to assure access to health care and to an adequate standard of living. The support systems of the agrarian em-the family, private charity, and local govemment-proved universally insufficient to meet the needs of persons living in a predominantly urb‘an environment and subject to the vicissitudes of a national industrial economy. Although the social security programs that have developed in various countries in response to industrialization are broadly comparable, they differ in important ways. It is not surprising that diverse historical, cultural, demographic, political, and economic characteristics of various countries have shaped social security programs that are far from uniform. A number of unique characteristics-including geographic size, ethnic diversity, and a tradition of self-reliance fostered by frontier opportunities-have helped to shape the development of social welfare legislation and institutions in the United States. Their influence may be seen in at least three important areas. First, the development of social welfare programs in the United States has been strongly pragmatic and incremental. Proposals for change generally are formulated in response to specific problems rather than to a broad national agenda. Actual program experience and evidence of umnet needs or unintended effects subsequently lead to adjustments, extensions, or alternative approaches. The original Social Security Act did not include the full range of progmms that had developed in some European countries: it was anticipated that additional programs of social insurance and income support would be instituted later. The provision of benefits for spouses and children legislated in 1939, ‘and the enactment of assistance programs and insurance for the disabled during the