Social Insurance and Public Assistance

742 Series Bf225–231 Bf SOCIAL INSURANCE AND PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
TABLE Bf225–231 Public expenditures on social welfare – public aid: 1929–1995
Contributed by Price V. Fishback and Melissa A. Thomasson
Public assistance
Supplemental
Total Total Medical payments Social services Security Income Food Stamps Other public aid
Bf225 Bf226 Bf227 Bf228 Bf229 Bf230 Bf231
Year Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars Million dollars
1970 16,487.8 14,433.5 5,212.7 712.6 — 577.0 1,477.3
1971 21,262.0 18,075.0 6,277.5 950.4 — 1,576.3 1,610.7
1972 26,078.2 21,895.0 7,751.6 2,160.5 — 1,866.8 2,316.4
1973 28,691.4 24,002.6 9,208.7 2,306.3 45.7 2,212.9 2,430.2
1974 31,520.4 23,827.4 10,371.9 2,155.1 2,831.5 2,838.9 2,022.6
1975 41,446.6 27,409.4 13,550.6 2,622.4 6,091.6 4,693.9 3,251.7
1976 49,023.4 1 31,384.5 15,708.8 2,799.4 6,540.3 1 5,699.7 5,398.9
1977 53,812.4 35,376.0 18,351.7 3,216.8 6,818.9 5,472.0 6,145.5
1978 59,925.8 37,360.3 20,471.9 2,840.1 7,193.7 5,139.5 10,232.3
1979 65,307.0 40,497.1 23,491.0 2,725.8 7,532.3 6,816.1 10,461.5
1980 72,703.1 45,064.3 27,570.1 2,342.8 8,226.5 9,083.3 10,329.0
1981 83,634.0 51,744.7 32,492.3 2,489.9 9,288.0 11,136.4 11,464.9
1982 82,206.2 53,860.0 34,804.6 2,567.5 9,753.0 10,761.0 7,832.2
1983 88,330.7 57,181.6 37,180.6 2,507.9 10,793.8 12,540.7 7,814.6
1984 92,979.4 61,906.0 40,194.8 2,788.9 11,136.7 12,375.2 7,561.5
1985 98,361.8 66,170.2 43,859.6 2 2,742.8 11,840.0 12,512.7 7,838.9
1986 104,200.2 70,839.6 47,242.9 2,670.7 12,887.4 12,397.0 8,076.2
1987 112,115.1 1 78,249.2 53,121.4 2,696.8 1 13,638.0 1 12,362.1 7,865.8
1988 119,723.4 84,152.2 58,039.4 2,700.0 14,687.1 13,071.1 7,813.0
1989 128,609.8 91,290.6 64,548.3 2,670.5 15,823.3 13,589.3 7,906.6
1990 146,811.1 105,093.8 76,175.1 2,753.2 17,230.4 16,254.5 8,232.4
1991 181,334.4 133,664.2 101,909.0 2,822.5 19,646.2 19,471.3 8,552.7
1992 207,953.0 152,018.2 117,622.1 2,707.6 23,423.2 23,232.9 9,278.7
1993 220,999.8 160,625.0 125,138.0 3,712.9 26,506.2 24,496.7 9,371.9
1994 238,025.3 171,755.1 134,204.5 3,645.2 30,085.5 25,273.6 10,911.1
1995 253,530.0 187,219.0 150,869.0 3,729.0 30,138.0 25,319.0 10,854.0
1 Revised figure. See text for Table Bf188–195.
2 The data reported in the 1997 and 1999 source articles for the year 1980 is 44,182.7,
which does not precisely match the data in the July 1995 source owing to revisions in
the procedures for estimating health expenditures.
Sources
Estimates presented for 1890 and 1913 were based primarily on the following:
R. A. Musgrave and J. J. Culbertson, “The Growth of Public Expenditures
in the U.S., 1890–1948,” National Tax Journal (June 1953): 97–115; J. Frederic
Dewhurst and Associates, America’s Needs and Resources (Twentieth Century
Fund, 1955); and reports of official agencies. Data for 1929–1989, U.S. Social
Security Administration, Social Welfare Expenditures under Public Programs
in the United States, 1929–90 (July 1995); Ann Kallman Bixby, “Public Social
Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1992,” Social Security Bulletin 58 (2) (1995):
65–73. Data for 1990–1995 are from Ann Kallman Bixby, “Public Social
Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1994,” Social Security Bulletin 60 (3) (1997):
42; and Ann Kallman Bixby, “Public Social Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year
1995,” Social Security Bulletin 62 (2) (1999): 88, 94. Most of the series in this
table are annually updated in the Social Security Bulletin: Annual Statistical Supplement,
Table 3.A3. See the text for Table Bf188–195 for further discussion
of the sources.
Documentation
More information on the public aid programs is available in Tables Bf568–
678 and Bf689–716.
Series Bf225. Includes cash payments and medical assistance under Aid to
Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Medicaid, emergency assistance,
WIC (Women, Infants and Children), General Assistance programs, public
assistance, work relief, other emergency aid, surplus food for the needy,
food stamps, repatriate and refugee assistance, social services and work
incentive activities, and the Job Corps, Neighborhood Youth Corps, and
work-experience training programs under the Economic Opportunity Act
and related laws. It is the sum of series Bf226 and Bf229–231. Certain other
economic opportunity programs are included in series Bf195 as antipoverty
programs.
Series Bf226. The figures on public assistance include cash payments and
medical assistance under the following programs: AFDC, Medicaid, emergency
assistance, WIC, and general assistance from state and local funds.
It also includes social services. Beginning in 1969, work incentive program
expenditures are included.
Series Bf229. Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI) was established by
Congress in 1972, with payments beginning in January 1974. SSI replaced
the former federal–state programs of Old-Age Assistance, Aid to the Blind,
and Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled.
Series Bf231. Includes work relief, other emergency aid, surplus food for
the needy, repatriate and refugee assistance, work-experience training programs,
the WIC program beginning in 1974, and Low-Income Home Energy
Assistance beginning in 1981.