Social Insurance and Public Assistance

820 Series Bf773–785 Bf SOCIAL INSURANCE AND PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
PRIVATE WELFARE
Price V. Fishback and Melissa A. Thomasson
TABLE Bf773–785 Private social welfare expenditures: 1950–1994
Contributed by Price V. Fishback and Melissa A. Thomasson
Social welfare expenditures
Private social welfare expenditures as a percentage of GDP Private social welfare expenditures, earlier method
Health and Income Welfare Public and Health and Income Welfare
Total medical care maintenance Education services private Public Private Total medical care maintenance Education services
Bf773 Bf774 Bf775 Bf776 Bf777 Bf778 Bf779 Bf780 Bf781 Bf782 Bf783 Bf784 Bf785
Million Million Million Million Million Million Million Million Million Million
Year dollars dollars dollars dollars dollars Percent Percent Percent dollars dollars dollars dollars dollars
1950 — — — — — — — — 12,027 965 8,962 1,615 685
1955 — — — — — — — — 17,997 1,895 12,909 2,343 850
1960 — — — — — — — — 27,829 3,535 19,461 3,745 1,088
1965 — — — — — — — — 42,687 5,975 29,357 5,980 1,375
1966 — — — — — — — — 42,245 — 31,464 6,648 —
1967 — — — — — — — — 48,531 — 32,315 7,456 —
1968 — — — — — — — — 52,679 8,840 33,523 8,566 1,750
1969 — — — — — — — — 58,611 10,170 37,041 9,500 1,900
1970 — — — — — — — — 67,353 11,660 43,810 9,883 2,000
1971 — — — — — — — — 74,380 13,100 48,387 10,793 2,100
1972 95,362 55,800 17,123 14,894 7,545 23.5 16.6 7.7 82,127 14,835 53,214 11,778 2,300
1973 104,083 61,500 18,063 16,223 8,297 23.4 16.7 7.5 90,610 16,640 58,715 12,655 2,600
1974 114,084 67,700 19,660 17,754 8,970 23.8 17.0 7.6 99,592 18,725 64,535 13,432 2,900
1975 128,556 75,700 23,336 19,453 10,067 25.2 18.2 7.9 111,658 21,630 72,333 14,695 3,000
1976 145,570 87,400 25,004 21,418 11,748 26.8 19.7 8.0 125,187 24,605 80,777 16,405 3,400
1977 167,276 100,200 30,662 22,879 13,535 26.6 19.3 8.3 146,769 27,800 97,243 17,876 3,850
1978 189,590 111,000 36,743 25,257 16,590 25.6 18.2 8.3 165,978 31,400 110,778 19,500 4,300
1979 217,279 125,100 44,703 27,936 19,540 25.3 17.7 8.3 — — — — —
1980 250,534 142,500 53,564 31,694 22,776 26.1 18.1 9.0 — — — — —
1981 285,585 165,700 58,741 35,416 25,728 26.9 18.7 9.2 — — — — —
1982 328,111 188,400 72,445 39,199 28,067 28.2 19.2 10.1 — — — — —
1983 366,635 207,700 84,652 42,891 31,392 28.9 19.6 10.4 — — — — —
1984 406,535 229,600 95,759 46,427 34,749 27.6 18.3 10.4 — — — — —
1985 462,283 253,900 118,871 50,513 38,999 27.6 17.8 11.1 — — — — —
1986 512,287 271,000 143,670 54,406 43,211 28.0 17.7 11.6 — — — — —
1987 544,584 293,000 143,589 60,394 47,601 28.8 18.5 11.6 — — — — —
1988 600,132 333,100 148,858 65,595 52,579 29.3 18.7 11.9 — — — — —
1989 668,806 369,800 167,260 72,434 59,312 29.4 18.5 12.3 — — — — —
1990 720,718 413,100 164,772 78,263 64,583 29.7 18.5 12.5 — — — — —
1991 764,439 441,000 170,754 83,687 68,998 31.3 19.8 12.9 — — — — —
1992 830,628 477,000 187,461 90,145 76,022 32.4 20.6 13.3 — — — — —
1993 873,871 505,100 192,340 95,532 80,899 33.0 21.1 13.3 — — — — —
1994 921,465 528,600 204,736 101,832 86,297 — — 13.3 — — — — —
Sources
Series Bf773–780. Wilmer Kerns, “Private Social Welfare Expenditures,
1972–94,” Social Security Bulletin 60 (1) (1997): 54–5. Series Bf781–785: for
the years 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, and 1974–1978, Alma W. McMillan
and Ann Kallman Bixby, “Social Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1978,” Social
Security Bulletin 43 (5) (1980): 16; for the years 1971–1973, Alfred M. Skolnik
and Sophie R. Dales, “Social Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year, 1976,”
Social Security Bulletin 40 (1) (1977): 17; for the year 1969, Alfred M. Skolnik
and Sophie R. Dales, “Social Welfare Expenditures, 1972–73,” Social Security
Bulletin 37 (1) (1974): 17; for the year 1968, Alfred M. Skolnik and Sophie R.
Dales, “Social Welfare Expenditures, 1971–72,” Social Security Bulletin 35 (12)
(1972): 16; and for the years 1966 and 1967, Alfred M. Skolnik and Sophie
R. Dales, “Social Welfare Expenditures, 1968–69,” Social Security Bulletin 32
(12) (1969): 17.
Documentation
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has estimated private social welfare
expenditures for 1972 to the present for calendar years – see series Bf773–
777 and Bf779 – using methodologies described first in Milton P. Glanz,
Wilmer L. Kerns, and Jack Schmulowitz, “Private Social Welfare Expenditures,”
1972–84,” Social Security Bulletin 50 (5) (1987): 59–67. Through the
late 1970s, the SSA used an alternative methodology to develop earlier estimates
for fiscal years during the period 1950–1978 but ended the series
because of data-source and methodology limitations.
Series Bf773–777. All estimates are on a calendar-year basis in currentyear
dollars. The private social welfare expenditures series are estimates of
private-sector financing of social welfare programs in the United States. They
complement the parallel public social welfare expenditures series but do not
have a one-to-one relationship with them. Conceptually, private expenditures
can be grouped into four major categories: health and medical care, income
maintenance, education, and welfare services.
Series Bf774. The health and medical care expenditures data are from the
Health Care Financing Administration. They include spending on health services
and supplies (rising from 94.2 percent in 1972 to 97.6 percent in 1994),
noncommercial medical research (0.2 to 0.4 percent), and medical facilities
construction (5.2 percent in 1972, declining to 2.2 percent in 1974).
Series Bf775. Income maintenance expenditures represent outlay for employee
benefit plans in the private sector, including group life insurance,