1. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

2. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

3. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

4. It is financed by taxes on employers and employees.
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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

5. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

6. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

7. 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).
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

8. Public Assistance (Cont’d)
Four types of categorical assistance programs
Old age assistance for the needy elderly
Aid to the needy blind
Aid to needy families with dependent children
Aid to the totally and permanently disabled
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

9. 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 federally-defined poverty level or threshold.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

10. Figure 19.2: Families on Welfare, 1950-2001
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

11. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

12. PCW 19.1: The Feminization of Poverty
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

13. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

14. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

15. Government programs to provide health care include:
Health Care (Cont’d)
Government programs to provide health care include:
Medicare, primarily for the elderly
Medicaid, for the qualifying poor
State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), for children in needy families.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

16. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

17. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

18. 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.
Part A of the Medicare program pays for care in facilities.
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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

19. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

20. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

21. 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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

22. Education is linked to national security and prosperity.
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.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

23. Benefits and Fairness
How can the government provide benefits in a way that is fair?
The national government provides two types of benefits: means tested and non-means tested.
Some people argue that non-means-tested benefits are not fair: some people need benefits, and others do not.
Transforming some non–means-tested benefits into means-tested benefits has allure during times of budget deficits.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.