Program_to_Help_the_Poor

There are several programs that can help the poor. The two main programs to help the poor are Social Insurance and Income Assistance. Social insurance is taken out of workers’ paychecks to help those who are retired, disabled, and unemployed. The social insurance programs help protect some of the families that are in poverty, but these programs require the person to have prior work history. Income Assistance, which is also known as welfare, does not require recipients to have prior work history or have contributed to the program. However, Income Assistance requires that recipients’ income and assets to fall under a certain level, which is known as mean’s tested. There are about 75 mean’s tested welfare programs. Firstly, social insurance is a program that is dedicated to make up the lost income of people that have worked, but are retired, temporarily unemployed, or unable to work because of disability or a work-related injury. There are two main programs within the social insurance department: Social Security and Medicare. Social security is a program that is used to supplement retirement income to those who have a record of contributing to the program during the years that they worked. This program was established during the Great Depression. The second type of program within Social Insurance is Medicare. Medicare is a program that provides short-term healthcare to those who are 65 years or older. Besides these two main programs, there are other programs, such as unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. Both of these programs require that the person to have prior work history. Income assistance contains many several sub-programs. There are two primary cash transfer programs, which is TANF and SSI. TANF, temporary assistance for needy families, provides cash to families in need with dependent children. SSI, supplemental security income, provides cash to the poor who are elderly or disabled. Another program in accordance with these two programs is the General Assistance program, which is available in most states. The federal government also provides assistance to poor families with the availability of earned-income tax credit, which allows for families that make less money to not pay federal income taxes. Within Income Assistance Programs, there is also in-kind transfer programs that provide healthcare, housing assistance, and food stamps to poor families. Medicaid is a program that provides medical care for people with low income who are aged, disabled, or families with dependent children. Food stamps, which are vouches the poor can use to redeem food, which helps out low-income families. Housing assistance is a program offered to help low-income families with rent. In addition to these in-kind transfer programs are, school lunch, energy assistance, and education and training assistance. The school lunch program provides lunch to poor children or supplemental food vouchers to pregnant women, infants, and children. The energy assistance program helps pay the energy bills for low-income families. Education and training programs is also another program to help low-income families, an example is Head Start. All of these programs are designed to help poor people or low-income families. These programs help families to bring themselves above the poverty line. Although there are many programs available for low-income people, there are a lot of people who are eligible for these programs, but do not apply for them.