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social insurance
noun
: protection of the individual against economic hazards (such as unemployment, old age, or disability) in which the government participates or enforces the participation of employers and affected individuals
Examples of social insurance in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
These problems of funding our major social insurance programs and of medium- and long-term balancing of federal finances as a whole, are not insoluble ones.
—Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 26 May 2024
Massachusetts has recently funded a study to look at the costs and benefits of alternative social insurance approaches.
—Marc Cohen, The Conversation, 30 Apr. 2024
Many states searching for solutions are looking at social insurance models as a promising approach.
—Marc Cohen, The Conversation, 30 Apr. 2024
Germany was the first country to adopt such a social insurance program in 1889, designed by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
—Rocio Fabbro, Quartz, 26 Mar. 2024
The program numbers tell the tale of a broadly necessary but very basic social insurance program.
—Christian Weller, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
To sustain international cooperation, governments must complement openness with policies that create good jobs, provide social insurance, tax footloose corporations, and avoid destabilizing capital flows.
—Barry Eichengreen, Foreign Affairs, 24 Oct. 2023
Mass parties, labor unions, public schools, strikes and boycotts, social insurance, minimum-wage laws, state banks and currency reform, antitrust regulation, income taxes, even economic planning: these were the new priorities, the material resources of freedom.
—Corey Robin, The New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2023
Another figure reveals the change in the unfunded liabilities of our social insurance programs.
—Scott Burns, Dallas News, 3 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'social insurance.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1890, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near social insurance
Cite this Entry
“Social insurance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20insurance. Accessed 16 Jun. 2024.
Legal Definition
social insurance
noun
: insurance of the individual against certain hazards (as unemployment, old age, and disability) that is undertaken, facilitated, or enforced by government
More from Merriam-Webster on social insurance
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about social insurance
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