Federal Government Policy Program: Social Security
Introduction

It should be noted, from the onset, that the federal government has in place a number of programmes and policies to enable it accomplish its various obligations and objectives in diverse sectors of the economy. In basic terms, the said programmes and policies are meant to promote the wellbeing of citizens. To a large extent each and every economic sector has specific/special policies. Examples of federal government policy programs include, but they are not limited to energy independence, welfare, Social Security, healthcare programs, etc. This text concerns itself with Social Security. In so doing, it will amongst other things evaluate the said policy with an intention of establishing how successful it has been.

Social Security Platforms

According to the Social Security Administration – SSA (2020), Social Security has for the past 80 years advanced financial protection to citizens of the U.S. Indeed, according to SSA (2020), “with retirement, disability, and survivors benefits, Social Security is one of the most successful anti-poverty programs in our nation's history.” Today, millions of people from across the country are largely dependent upon Social Security benefits which account for either their total income, or a significant chunk of the same. In basic terms, Social Security benefits could be categorized into four, i.e. supplemental benefits, survivor benefits, disability benefits, and retirement benefits. While retirement benefits are advanced to persons over a certain age (i.e. those who happen to be more than 62 years old) and have been in active employment for a period of more than a decade, disability benefits are meant to avail assistance to persons who are unable to work or function as a consequence of one disability or another. Survivor benefits on the other hand avail the necessary financial support to retirees’ and workers’ survivors. These include, but they are not limited to children, widowers, widows, etc. Lastly, we have supplemental benefits. These could be described as income advanced to persons whose wages are insufficient to support their basic needs. These are the Social Security platforms that will be evaluated in the subsequent sections of this text.

Evaluation

According to Biggs and Helms (2006), the relevance of program evaluation cannot be overstated when it comes to the assessment of how successful a program is. Indeed, in the words of the authors, “program evaluations are individual systematic studies conducted periodically or on an ad hoc basis to assess how well a program is working” (249). In a 2014 Economic Report of the President, program evaluation was defined as a key tool for the further improvement of programs of the federal government (Council of Economic Advisers, 2014). Under most circumstances, program evaluations are undertaken by persons who are not internal to the program. To a large extent, program evaluation in the public sector differs from that in the pubic sector. This is more so the case when it comes to not only the conduct of evaluations, but also the tools of the said evaluation, as well as the objectives. In essence, in the public sector, successful program evaluation comes in handy in the promotion of public accountability....…persons who are “65 and older without disabilities who meet the financial limits.” For persons having very limited financial resources and income, life could be really tough without a benefit program of this nature. This is more so the case given that they have to take care of their living expenses and pay bills like everybody else. It therefore follows that the monthly cash disbursements come in handy in seeking to ensure that those eligible are able to meet their most basic needs. At present, a maximum of $9,396 per annum is paid out per annum to those who qualify at the individual level (SSA, 2020). On the other hand, couples are eligible for a maximum of $14,100 per annum (SSA, 2020).

Conclusion

In the final analysis, it should be noted that although Social Security is largely identified with retiree payouts, it does indeed have other structured benefit plans as has been highlighted in this text. Using the appropriate evaluation tool, it has been shown that the Social Security program outcomes are of great relevance in the maintenance of the financial and emotional stability, as well as general wellbeing of the citizens of this great nation. The evaluation above also indicates that Social Security as a whole avails some level of insurance that would ordinarily be unavailable in normal free market scenarios, i.e. in the private markets. Thus, to a large extent, we could conclude that Social Security effectively helps address annuity market and private insurance shortcomings and offers the citizens of this great nation the means to meet their basic needs.…