1. Chapter 17
Social Welfare

2. Types of Programs
Benefit most citizens, no means test (e.g., Social Security and Medicare)
Benefit a few citizens, means tested (e.g. Medicaid and Food Stamps)
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3. Popular Support Majoritarian benefit programs are sacrosanct
The appeal of client-based, means-tested programs changes with popular opinion
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4. Social Welfare in the United States
The appeal of client-based, means-tested programs changes with popular opinion
America has been slower than other nations to embrace the welfare state
State and private enterprise play a large role in administering welfare programs
Non-governmental organizations play a large role
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5. Who Benefits?
The public insists that it be only those who cannot help themselves
There is a slow, steady change in popular views, distinguishing between the deserving and the undeserving
The American public prefers to give services, not money, to help the “deserving poor”
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6. Non-Governmental Organizations
Contracts and grants are awarded to national non-profit organizations, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Jewish Federations, and Catholic Charities
Charitable Choice: provision that allowed religious non-profit organizations to compete for grants to administer welfare-to-work and related policies
Faith-based organizations playing prominent roles in urban welfare-to-work programs
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7. Social Security Act of 1935
Insurance for the unemployed and elderly—workers contribute and benefit
Everybody is eligible for insurance programs
Assistance for dependent children, the blind, and the elderly
Assistance programs are means tested
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8. Medicare Act of 1965
Medical benefits were omitted in 1935 in order to ensure passage of the Social Security Act
Covers medical care for the poor and pays doctors’ bills for the elderly
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9. Reforming Welfare Programs
Problem: there will soon be insufficient people paying Social Security taxes to provide benefits for every retired person
Most solutions are opposed by the public
Health care issues will remain on the political agenda
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10. Table 19.2: Health Care Spending in the United States and Abroad, 2001
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11. Possible Solutions for Social Security
Raising the retirement age to 70, freezing retirement benefits, and raising Social Security taxes
Privatizing Social Security
Combine the first two reforms, and allow citizens to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes into mutual funds
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12. Table 19.1: Public Views on Reforming Social Security
Just use the information about individual investment from the middle of the chart.
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13. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Block grant program
Had strict federal requirements about work, limited how long families can receive federally funded benefits
By 2003, welfare caseloads had declined nationally by 60%
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14. Figure 19.1: SSI, TANF, and Food Stamp Recipients, 1980-2002
U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2003, 371, 374.
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15. Majoritarian Politics
Costs and benefits are widely distributed
Examples: Social Security Act, Medicare Act
Question of legitimacy: conservatives argued that nothing in the Constitution authorized the federal government to spend money this way
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16. Client Politics
Family assistance politics are less about cost than about the legitimacy of beneficiaries
Example: TANF program
Beneficiaries changed: , able-bodied adults had a harder time getting benefits, but child-care spending in most states rose by 50% or more
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