Beneficiaries of U.S Social Programs - Term Paper Example

Despite the United s being the richest country in the world there is a lot of poverty and social problems facing the American society. The spread of wealth is unevenly distributed among its population. In 2009 42.9 million Americans or 14.2% of the population was living in poverty (Bishaw & Macartney, 2009). Government sponsored social programs help a lot of beneficiaries improve their standard of living. Three government social programs that help different segments of the population are social security, welfare, and DTSSAB.

This paper will describe these programs from the perspective of the beneficiaries and will provide alternative solutions for participants of these programs. The social security program was created in 1935 with the purpose of providing pension benefits to retired senior citizens and disabled workers. The program in 1965 was expanded in order to provide medical insurance benefits known as Medicare. The beneficiaries of the program are people over the age of 62 who worked during their lifetime a minimum of 40 trimesters.

People who become physically or mentally disabled also qualify for social security benefits. The wife or husband of the beneficiary as well children under the age of 18 may qualify to receive benefits. People that receive a low amount of social security can apply for additional help such as supplemental social security income (SSI). SSI gives these people an extra check to pay for their living expenses. Senior citizens that receive social security income because of age have options to improve their standard of living.

They can reenter the workforce part time and still receive their social security income. The social security system has many critics among the scholarly community. According to Bloice (2010) the US congress is conspiring to lower the benefits the future generation of senior citizens. A second program that is available in the United States to help feed people in need is welfare. Welfare is a food assistance program that gives people money that can be used to purchase food items. The adults as well as the children of a family unit are eligible to receive benefits.

Larger family units receive higher welfare benefits. People that are unemployed or people whose income are below the federal poverty line are eligible for welfare benefits. The welfare program has indirect benefits such as helping eradicate child labor because minors are eligible for welfare benefits (Soares, 2010). The monthly benefits due to the high cost of food in the marketplace are on many instances not sufficient to cover for the entire monthly food basket. These families can get support from food shelters that provide daily meals to the homeless and people in need.

Many churches also provide food assistance to poor people. A third social program sponsored by the US government is DTSSAB. DTSSAB is a housing social program responsible for the direct management of the public housing portfolio, the administration and maintenance of central waiting list and the administration of social housing program (Dtssab, 2010). The beneficiaries of these programs receive shelter at cero or minimal cost. These public housing facilities are often overpopulated which is a constraint for quality family life.

These families can take advantage of public sporting facilities and parks around to city to take their kids to enjoy a healthy lifestyle. References Bishaw, A., Macartney, S. (2010). Poverty 2008 and 2009: American Community Survey Briefs. Retrieved January 17, 2011 from http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-1.pdf Bloice, C. (2010). THE GREAT Social Security AND Medicare Robbery. National Nurse, 106(5), 12-15. Retrieved January 17, 2011 from EBSCOhost database. Soares, J. (2010). Welfare Impact on a Ban on Child Labor.

Economic Inquiry, 48(4). 1048-64. Retrieved January 17, 2011 from EBSCOhost database. Dtssab.com (2010). Social Housing Program. Retrieved January 17, 2011 from http://www.dtssab.com/shp.htm