Social Security and Hurricane Katrina

For Immediate Release: September 9, 2005
Contact: Jill Braunstein at (202) 452-8097

WASHINGTON, DC—As victims of Katrina begin to put back their lives, some in new communities, some with relatives, and most a far distance from their jobs and their banks, the need for cash stands out as the best single thing well-meaning outsiders can do. For some families, help has long been in place. Social Security is there to pay benefits to children of workers who lost their lives in the disaster and to families of workers severely injured in the disaster or its aftermath.

To learn more about Social Security—who gets it, who pays for it, children’s stake in it, what it provides to people of color—read the Social Security sourcebook on the National Academy of Social Insurance’s website. NASI is an objective source of factual information about Social Security.

By paying Social Security taxes, virtually all working Americans contribute to this universal safety net for workers and families when adversity strikes. Best known as a retirement program, Social Security provides a bedrock of support for families of workers who lose their lives or lose their livelihood due to disability.

To learn more about getting help from Social Security, visit the website of the Social Security Administration at www.ssa.gov.

For more information on particular issues see:

• Why Social Insurance?, Social Security Brief No. 6
• Children’s Stake in Social Security, Social Security Brief No. 14
• What is Social Security Disability Insurance?, Social Insurance Sourcebook

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The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization made up of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance. Its mission is to promote understanding and informed policymaking on social insurance and related programs through research, public education, training, and the open exchange of ideas.