Transcript Social security

Domestic Policy
Domestic Policy
Government Policies and
Individual Welfare
• The promotion of social and
economic equality through
government policies is
controversial because it requires
government to redistribute
income, and thus compromises
freedom in pursuit of equality.
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Government Policies and
Individual Welfare (Cont’d)
• Almost every modern nation can be
characterized as a welfare statethe
provider and protector of individual
well-being through economic and
social programs.
• Social welfare programs are
government programs that provide
the minimum living standards
necessary for all citizens.
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Government Policies and Individual Welfare (Cont’d)
• In recent history, social welfare
expenditures have increased
steadily in order to provide
minimum living standards for all
citizens.
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Social Security
• Social security is a social
insurance program that provides
economic assistance to persons
faced with unemployment,
disability, or old age.
• It is financed by taxes on
employers and employees.
• Unemployment and distress
caused by the Depression led to
the Social Security Act of 1935.
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Social Security (Cont’d)
• Revenues for old-age retirement
security go into their own trust
fund.
• Full benefits begin at age sixty-five
for people born before 1938 and
age sixty-seven for those born
after that date.
• The solvency of the program faces
challenges in the future,
prompting reforms.
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Public Assistance
• Public assistance (what is
commonly meant by the term
welfare) is government aid to
individuals who can demonstrate
a need for that aid.
• It is directed toward those who
lack the ability or resources to
provide for themselves or their
family.
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Assignment
• Complete page 558-559
numbers 1-21 in the Civics
Book.
• Write the questions and/or
definitions on 1-10.
• Turn in for 100 points.
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Public Assistance (Cont’d)
• There are four types of categorical
assistance programs under the
Social Security Act.
• These programs have become
entitlements (benefits to which
everyone has a legal right and the
government cannot deny).
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Public Assistance (Cont’d)
• Four types of categorical
assistance programs
oOld age assistance for the
needy elderly
oAid to the needy blind
oAid to needy families with
dependent children
oAid to the totally and
permanently disabled
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Public Assistance (Cont’d)
• Until 1996, the national
government distributed funds to
states in proportion to the number
of people in each state with
incomes below the federallydefined poverty level or threshold.
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Figure 19.2: Families on
Welfare, 1950-2001
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Public Assistance (Cont’d)
• The feminization of poverty
refers to the growing
percentage of all poor
Americans that are women or
the dependents of women.
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PCW 19.1: The
Feminization of Poverty
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Public Assistance (Cont’d)
• In 1996 Congress passed, and
President Clinton signed, a
welfare reform bill known as
the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families Act that
altered sixty-one years of
national welfare policy.
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Health Care
• The United States is the only major
industrialized nation without a
universal health-care system.
• The U.S. system is a patchwork of
programs designed to cover
different segments of the
population, but not all citizens.
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Health Care (Cont’d)
• Government programs to provide
health care include:
oMedicare, primarily for the
elderly
oMedicaid, for the qualifying poor
oState Children’s Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP), for children in
needy families.
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Health Care (Cont’d)
• When considering cost and
access, roughly 15.2% of all
Americans are uninsured.
• Several million Americans living in
rural areas are unable to receive
health care because they do not
have easy access to doctors or
hospitals.
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Health Care (Cont’d)
• Health care costs continue to
escalate rapidly, with prescription
drug costs leading the way.
• Reforming health care would
actually increase the current
amount spent in the U.S. as well as
restricting the range of procedures
and providers available to
patients.
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Health Care (Cont’d)
• Medicare is a health-insurance program for
all people aged sixty-five and older and a
few individuals who are disabled or who
suffer from end-stage renal disease.
o Part A of the Medicare program pays for
care in facilities.
o Part B of the Medicare program pays for
doctor’s services and outpatient hospital
care. Participants of Part B pay a
premium of twenty-five percent with the
remaining costs paid for by the
government.
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Health Care (Cont’d)
• The most recent change in
Medicare is the Medicare and
Prescription Drug
Modernization Act which
created a new prescription
drug coverage option.
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Health Care (Cont’d)
• Medicaid is a need-based
comprehensive medical and
hospitalization program.
• The State Children’s Health Insurance
Program is a health-insurance program
designed to provide children in families
with low incomes access to medical
care.
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Assignment
• Explain how the changes in the
health care and tax reform may
effect you within the next 10 years.
How might you be effected if
things do not change.
• Write one page in paragraph
format.
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Education
• Americans have traditionally believed that
education could help individuals attain social and
economic equality.
• The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 was the first time the government provided
direct aid to local school districts.
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Education (Cont’d)
• Education is linked to national security and
prosperity.
• Education reform is difficult, thoughparticularly on
the national level—as evidenced by the passage
and implementation of the No Child Left Behind
Act.
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Benefits and Fairness
• How can the government provide benefits
in a way that is fair?
o The national government provides two types of
benefits: means tested and non-means tested.
o Some people argue that non-means-tested
benefits are not fair: some people need benefits,
and others do not.
o Transforming some non–means-tested benefits
into means-tested benefits has allure during times
of budget deficits.
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