Did you know that the Food Stamp Act was part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society Program?

Have you ever looked at your check stub and saw a deduction for FICA and wondered what it was, and why are they deducting it from your  earnings? Did you know that the amount deducted is 7.65 percent and your  employer matches that amount. Did you know that FICA is the acronym for the Federal Insurance  Contributions Act? Did you know that this act mandates that an employer withhold a set  percentage of an employee’s salary each pay period? Did you know that FICA also requires that the employer match the employee’s amount and contribute the money to a government  account known as the Social Security Trust Fund? Did you know that the Social Security Trust Fund provides retirement  income, as well as disability insurance, Medicare, and benefits for survivors? Did you know that FICA was the result of the Social Security Act of 1935, proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt? Did you know that the program began collecting taxes and paying benefits in 1937?  Did you know that in 1939, FICA was amended to include widows and orphans of working  spouses, as well as elderly people who had not paid into the system? Did you know that originally, Social Security benefits were only available to people who were  under 65 and who worked in what was considered  commerce and industry?   Did you know that Government employees, medical personnel, lawyers, and agricultural  workers were all exempt from FICA? Did you know because they were not required to pay into the fund, they could not collect  monies from it? Did you know that these restrictions have been lifted, and although there are still categories  of workers who can opt out of paying into FICA?  Did you know that no one is expressly excluded from participation? Did you know that Medicaid was established in 1965? Did you know that Medicaid was designed to assist low-income families in providing health care for themselves and their children. It also covers certain individuals who fall below the  federal poverty level?

Did you know that Medicare has four parts -- Part A, which is hospital insurance, Part B, which is medical insurance, Part C, which is Medicare Advantage Plans, and  Part D, which  is Prescription Drug Coverage. Did you know that Medicaid provides medical care to the poor, to children and to pregnant  women living under the federal poverty level?   Did you know that it is funded jointly by the states and the federal government?

Did you know that the Food Stamp Act  was part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society Program?

Did you know that the goal of the Food Stamp Act of 1964 was to prevent hunger, improve the social conditions of citizens with low-incomes, and provide a foundation for U.S. agriculture?

Did you know that Congress designed the act "To strengthen the agricultural economy? To help achieve a fuller and more effective use of food abundances; to provide for improved levels of nutrition among low-income households through a cooperative Federal-State program of food assistance to be operated through normal channels of trade."

Did you know that the nutritional program,was designed to help reduce the incidents of health problems in poverty-stricken areas, in particular, problems associated with low birth weight, anemia, and osteoporosis?

Did you know that when  Congress adopted the mechanism to distribute agricultural surpluses to poor individuals—the ideal was food stamps—stamps that people could exchange for food at grocery stores?

Did you know that the Food Stamp Act required the federal government pay for the benefits, but the state agencies determined individual eligibility, distributed the stamps, and conducted audits and monitored vendors' food stamp inventories/

Did you know that the federal and state governments,  shared the administrative costs of the program?

Did you know that the food stamp program offers benefit that ensures recipients use the government support on groceries and nutrition?

Did you know that the program feed poor individuals, and it also provided an economic boost to grocery stores because the food stamps worked as a cash-equivalent, enabling customers to buy more goods and items not subsidized by the program?

Now if you didn't know, now you know...

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