Characteristics of Aged Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Beneficiaries Who Receive Public Assistance

T HREE out of every 4 persons aged 65 and over in the United States receive either old-age and survivors insurance benefits or old-age assistance payments, or both. For this reason the socio-economic characteristics of aged insurance beneficiaries and assistance recipients under these social security programs have an important bearing on planning for the security of the aged. Findings of the national sample survey of beneficiaries conducted by the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance in the fall of 1957 were therefore analyzed to determine how the beneficiary who receives public assistance to supplement his benefits resembles other beneficiaries and other assistance recipients. A comparison of this kind should furnish a partial answer to the two questions often asked about this group. Are they more like other insurance beneficiaries, or are they indistinguishable in most respects from the other assistance recipients? Do they come on the assistance rolls primarily because of medical care needs, primarily because their insurance benefit plus other income is inadequate to meet their maintenance needs, or because of a combination of reasons?