[s1artibartfast]

"welfare" [1] is generally a distinct concept from "public goods" [2]

Welfare is typically ment to mean policies to alleviate the hardships of poverty. These can be wealth transfers or socialized insurance policies to reduce the variability of outcomes.

Public goods are services like roads, courts, or firemen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good_(economics)

[anon291]

In that case, neither Social Security and Medicare are welfare. Social Security is given to everyone regardless of income; so is Medicare.

[s1artibartfast]

Both are tools where the point is to prevent poverty.

Compulsory and universal participation are the methods used to achieve this goal.