Milford chronicle., 1954-09-24
Changes In Your
Social Security
By MYRON MILROUER
Manager Of the Wilmington
Social Security Oficel


Social Security Omce)
I'll be receiving thousands of
questions about social security be-
cause Of the 1854 Amendments to
the Social Security Act, signed
this summer by President Eisen-
hover. However, I'm afraid many
people with questions won't visit
our Office, so am going to ans
wer some Of those unasked Ques-
tions in this series Of articles.
It is difficult to realize that so
many people know so little about
something that is as important
to them as their social security.
But I find that this is true in many
cases. Common sense tells us the
importance Of translRting the tech
nicalities Of the social security
law and its changes into the
thought and life Of the American
people. feel that this is my duty
as your social security represen-
tative.
In this series Of articles on the
old-age and survivors insurance
program, shall describe the re-
cent changes in the social security
law as they will directly affect
each and every one Of us. / do this
with the sincere hope that you
will gain a more complete under
standing of your social security
and its effect on you and your
family.
When Congress proposed and
enacted the new amendments, it
did so with its main view towards
bringing social security insurance
benefits more realistically into line
with current earning levels and
living costs. And just as import
ant are the parts of the law that
extend the cOverage Of social Sc
curity to more people, and in this
way make benefits available to
more workers in their retirement
and to their families when they
die.
To accomplish this end, the
changes in the law had to have
two detectives. First, social Sc
curity protection had to be extend
ed TO more types of jobs so that a
larger number Of people could par
ticipate and through their cOntri-
buttons qualify for social security
benefits. This was written into the
new law, and now nearly nine out
Of ten workers are included under
the program. And of about SO mill
lion jobs, over 55 million are now
covered by social security.
The second objective was that Of
giving increased benefits to those
already receiving Old-age and sur
vivOrs insurance payments as we'll
as to those who will be getting
them in the future. Three impOr-
tant points under the increased
benefits are the increase in the
amount Of wages that will be
counted for social security pur-
poses; a drOp-out of low or no
earning years; and a revised for
mUla for computing benefit
amounts. AOnther important pro-
vision in the new law is the pro-
lection Of insured status and ben
eft amounts for those who are
totally disabled.
This may be a good place to
point out that Old-age and surviv-
ors benefits are payable only to
persons who have worked for
specified length Of time in employ
ment or self-employment covered
by social security and to the quail
ified dependents of such workers. |
Social security benefits are paid
out of a trust fund built up entire
ly from the contributions of Gov
cred employees and their employ
ers and Of covered self-emplOyed |
persons, plus accumulated inter |
est. Thus the financing of the sys-
tenn is completely self-supporting.
In this article I have sketched |
the full scope of the social secur-
ity law as huge picture. The |
next one will be devoted to Just |
one phase Of the new amendments
to the law.