Editing Great Society (section)

===Welfare===
A number of changes were made to the Social Security program<ref>[https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v28n5/v28n5p24.pdf Social Security Legislation in 1964]</ref> in terms of both coverage and adequacy of benefits. The Tax Adjustment Act of 1966 included a provision for special payments under the social security program to certain uninsured individuals aged 72 and over. The Social Security Amendments of 1965 included a 7% increase in cash benefits, a liberalization of the definition of disability, a liberalization of the amount a person can earn and still get full benefits (the so-called retirement test), payment of benefits to eligible children aged 18–21 who are attending school, payment of benefits to widows at age 60 on an actuarially reduced basis, coverage of self-employed physicians, coverage of tips as wages, liberalization of insured-status requirements for persons already aged 72 or over, an increase to $6,600 the amount of earnings counted for contribution and benefit purposes (the contribution and benefit base), and an increase in the contribution rate schedule.<ref name="ssa" />

The Social Security Amendments of 1967 included a 13% increase in old-age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits, with a minimum monthly benefit of $55 for a person retiring at or after age-65 (or receiving disability benefits), an increase from $35 to $40 in the special age-72 payments, an increase from $1,500 to $1,680 in the amount a person may earn in a year and still get full benefits for that year, monthly cash benefits for disabled widows and disabled dependent widowers at age 50 at reduced rates, a liberalization of the eligibility requirements for benefits for dependents and Survivors of women workers, and an alternative insured-status test for workers disabled before age 31.<ref name="ssa" />

Additionally, new guidelines for determining eligibility for disability insurance benefits, additional non-contributory wage credits for servicemen, broadened coverage of clergy and members of religious orders who have not taken a vow of poverty, and an increase in the contribution and benefit base from $6,600 to $7,800, beginning in 1968. In addition, the Social Security Amendments of 1967 provided the first major amendments of Medicare. These social security amendments extended the coverage of the program to include certain services previously excluded, simplified reimbursement procedures under both the hospital and medical insurance plans, and facilitated the administrative procedures concerning general enrollment periods.<ref name="ssa" />

The Food Stamp Act of 1964 made the program permanent, while the Social Security Amendments of 1967 specified that at least 6% of monies for maternal and child health should be spent on family planning. By 1967, the federal government began requiring state health departments to make contraceptives available to all adults who were poor. Meal programs for low-income senior citizens began in 1965, with the federal government providing funding for "congregate meals" and "home-delivered meals."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yk5NI69ZO9sC&q=food+stamp+act+1964+provisions&pg=PA88|title=Poverty and the Government in America|isbn=9781598841688|last1=Sreenivasan|first1=Jyotsna|year=2009|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> The Child Nutrition Act, passed in 1966, made improvements to nutritional assistance to children such as in the introduction of the School Breakfast Program.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/aboutlunch/programhistory_6.htm|title=Child Nutrition Act of 1966 - Food and Nutrition Service|work=usda.gov|access-date=September 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813211140/http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/aboutlunch/programhistory_6.htm|archive-date=August 13, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>