e government writes Social Security checks and mails them to beneficiaries. Any money left over after paying benefits is put into the Trust Fund, which is invested in U.S. government securities to provide funds for future use.What’s Right with Social SecuritySocial Security provides a substantial number of workers and their families with insurance against the financial risks associated with the death or disability of a breadwinner. In 1996, the benefits paid by Social Security exceeded $347 billion. These benefits, in combination with Medicare health insurance, have dramatically reduced poverty for the aged in America. In 1959, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that more than 35 percent of elderly Americans were poor. By 1996, in large part because of changes in the Social Security and Medicare systems, the poverty rate among senior citizens was 10.8 percent. Social Security retirement benefits are portable, following workers from job to job. In contrast, many employer-provided pension plans offer benefits only to workers who stay with the same company for an extended period of time. Social Security benefits are adjusted annually to protect against erosion caused by inflation, whereas private pension programs and insurance plans rarely guarantee such protection.Under Social Security, disability and life insurance coverage is provided without regard to the health of the individual.Workers with a very low wage are guaranteed a minimum benefit.34 This progressive feature of Social Security helps give all workers in America a chance at a decent retirement, even if the type of work they did, or personal circumstances, did not enable them to accumulate wealth or become eligible for a private pension plan. The program runs smoothly, regardless of political or economic events. Unlike other entitlements, such as Medicaid and welfare, Social Security does not require state and local governments to participate in program financing or administ...
