Social security
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Social Security is a generic term, most commonly used in the USA and UK, referring to different types of state programmes for protection of the elderly [old age pensions], healthcare provision, income maintenance, inter alia. The term covers all types of state and para-state programmes, including social insurance (predominant in continental Europe), social assistance (the anglophone countries' preferred means-tested benefits for the poor) and tax-based universal benefits (more commonly found in Scandinavian countries). A country's overall state policy on these issues is frequently referred to as the "welfare state", with negative connotations and stigma attached to this in the anglophone world.
see also