social security
social security Public provision of economic aid to help alleviate poverty and deprivation. In 1883, Germany became the first country to adopt social security legislation, in the form of health insurance. By the end of the 1920s, public social security provisions had been adopted throughout Europe. In 1909, the UK adopted an old-age pension scheme, and in 1911 Lloyd George drafted the National Insurance Act to provide health and unemployment insurance. In 1946, the National Insurance Act and the National Health Service Act were passed. In 1948, the National Assistance Act complemented these, and the Welfare State and the National Health Service (NHS) were born. In the USA, as part of the New Deal, the Social Security Act (1935) was adopted. It provided unemployment compensation, old-age pensions, and federal grants for state welfare programs. In 1965, Congress enacted the Medicare programme, which provided medical benefits for persons over 65 and the Medicaid programme for the poor.
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social security