The belief that social welfare was designed only for the poor shaped the way I thought about social welfare policy. Tussing's article; however, it made me realize that the US welfare system is divided into two parts, public assistance and social insurance. As noted by Tussing (YEAR), public assistance programs are tremendously stigmatized because they serve the “poor,” while for social insurance programs the stigma does not exist and does not affect “non-poor” people (p.50). To me, social insurance programs were not part of the US welfare system. Growing up, the term welfare was primarily associated with cash assistance and food stamps and social insurance as "earned benefits." Midgley and Tussing's articles added knowledge on social welfare policymaking, social welfare models, and, most importantly, a deep understanding of social stigma on public assistance programs and social insurance.