Social Security Turns 82!

The Social Security Administration (SSA) delivers services through a nationwide network of over 1,400 offices that include regional offices, field offices, card centers, teleservice centers, processing centers, hearing offices, the Appeals Council, and their State and territorial partners, the Disability Determination Services. They also have a presence in U.S. embassies around the globe.

The Social Security Act was first signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 14, 1935 where he stated that “The success or failure of any government must be measured by the well-being of its citizens.” The Act established one of our nation’s greatest social and economic achievements: a law that at its very core was meant to allow people to meet their basic needs at the most vulnerable times in their lives.

The SSA began as an independent agency, then in 1939 it was made part of sub-cabinet agency, and then on March 31, 1995 was returned to an independent agency status during a ceremony at their headquarters in Baltimore. At this ceremony, President Clinton commented on the importance of the Social Security program, stating that “for millions of Americans, [the Social Security Act] transformed old age from a time of fear and want to a period of rest and reward. It empowered many American families as well, freeing them to put their children through college to enrich their own lives, knowing that their parents would not grow old in poverty.”

Social Security provides benefits for: Old age (retirement), Survivors, and Disability.

You can read more here: http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/ssact-toc.htm

By: Joyce Trudeau of Premier Disability Services, LLC^®