Social Welfare Policymaking

Chapter 18

Social Welfare Programs Two Main Types:

Entitlement Programs: Government benefits that certain qualified individuals are entitled to by

law, regardless of need. -Social Security -Medicare

Means-tested Programs: Government programs

only available to individuals below the poverty line. -TANF -Medicaid

Social Welfare ProgramsSocial Security: Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Social Security is funded through payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and/or Self Employed Contributions Act Tax (SECA).

Income derived from Social Security is currently estimated to keep roughly 20% of all Americans, age 65 or older, above the federally defined poverty level.

Social Welfare ProgramsSocial Security Trust Funds: Tax deposits are collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and are formally entrusted to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Hospital InsuranceTrust Fund, or the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund.

Social Welfare ProgramsThe people who are working now, pay for those who are collecting Social Security now.

Social Welfare ProgramsPonzi Scheme: a fraudulent investment operation where the operator, an individual or organization, pays returns to its investors from new capital paid to the operators by new investors, rather than from profit earned by the operator.

Income, Poverty, and Public PolicyIncome:

Amount of funds collected between any two points in time.

Wealth:

Amount of assets

already owned.

Income, Poverty, and Public Policy

The Demographics of Poverty

Poverty Line: What a family must spend for an “austere” standard of living.

In 2013 a family of three has a poverty line of just over $19,350.

Many people move in and out of poverty in a year’s time.

There are high rates of poverty among unmarried women.

Government Policies Progressive tax: People with higher incomes pay a greater percentage.

Proportional tax: All people pay the same percentage of their income.

Regressive tax: The poor pay higher

percentage of their income than the rich

Government Policies Government Expenditures

Transfer payments: Benefits given by the government directly to individuals.

Some transfer benefits are actual money.

Other transfer benefits are “in kind” benefits

where recipients get a benefit without receiving actual money.

Some are entitlement programs, others are means-tested.

Government Policies

The Great Depression and the New DealThe Great Depression led many citizens to want the government to help protect against economic downturns and causes of poverty beyond their control.

The Social Security Act of 1935 was the first major step by the federal government to help protect people against absolute poverty.

The Great SocietyJohnson declared a “war on poverty.”

Medicare, school-aid programs and welfare were created.

Other programs were designed to provide training and jobs, not just transfer payments.

Reagan and Changes to WelfareReagan played a lead role in getting attention on benefit programs.

Many programs had benefits reduced, and people were removed from benefit rolls.

Democrats worked to prevent cuts and protect the truly poor.

The Welfare Reform ActTemporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

The new program put a 5 year limit on the amount of time a person could receive benefits.

It also gave the states money in a block grant to run their own welfare programs.

The Future of Social Security and Medicare Social Security is running out of money

There are several plans to improve Social Security’s financial future

• Cut benefits• Raise the

retirement age• Raise tax rates• Allow people to

invest on their own

The Future of Social Security and MedicareThe Social Security system is second only to national defense as America’s most costly public policy.

The growing demands to care for the elderly will almost certainly become more severe in the decades ahead.

The Future of Social Welfare PolicyPrograms for the poor are not as popular as programs for the elderly.

The percentage of people in poverty has not changed significantly since the 1960’s.

But there is little agreement on if the programs help people in poverty or not.

The Future of Social Welfare Policy Social Welfare Policy Elsewhere

- Many industrialized nations have much more extensive social welfare programs than the U.S.

- But the tax rates are higher in those countries than in the U.S. - Other countries (especially in the EU) are reforming their welfare programs.

- Cuts to social programs are called “austerity measures.”