THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 28, 1995 TAG: 9508260319
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: MIAMI HERALD
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Here's a brief look at the history of Social Security:
1935: Social Security Act, which provided old-age insurance to company-employed workers, signed in the middle of the Great Depression.
1936: First Social Security card issued to John D. Sweeney Jr. of New Rochelle, N.Y.
1939: Coverage expanded to include not only retired workers but their aged wives and widows, young children and surviving aged parents.
1950: Coverage extended to 10 million additional people, mainly agriculture and domestic workers, most self-employed workers and certain federal, state and local government employees.
1956: Coverage extended to disabled workers, ages 50 to 64. Also, coverage extended to military personnel, dentists and lawyers. Early-retirement benefits at reduced rates extended to women at 62.
1960: Disability benefits extended to workers of all ages.
1961: Early retirement option with reduced benefits extended to men.
1965: Medicare signed into law. Coverage extended to doctors.
1966: Tax Adjustment Act of 1966 passed; included Prouty amendment, which allowed people 72 and older to qualify for benefits, even if they had no Social Security coverage.
1974: Supplemental Security Income program begins with 3.2 million beneficiaries. By '94, there were 6.2 million. Social Security runs this federal welfare program, but it's funded by general revenues, not Social Security taxes.
1983: Coverage extended to newly hired federal employees and on a compulsory basis to all employees of nonprofit organizations.
1984: Partial taxing of benefits begins for high-income beneficiaries.
1995: Social Security Administration, once part of Department of Health and Human Services, becomes an independent agency. Number of beneficiaries has grown from 53,236 in 1937 to 43 million in 1995.
KEYWORDS: SOCIAL SECURITY by CNB